Talking Watches With Roger Smith

One of the most interesting pocket watch movements we've ever seen is this one: the base movement was made by Patek Philippe, and it was fitted at Patek with a version of Dr. Daniels' co-axial escapement in the mid-1980s. Patek of course eventually declined to develop the co-axial escapement and put it into production, but this remains a fascinating example of a watch from the very long road to the eventual industrialization of the escapement by Omega.

Here we have two prototype ETA movements (caliber 2892) fitted with co-axial escapements for evaluation purposes in 1994. These watches were worn by Roger Smith and Dr. Daniels as part of the program for evaluating and industrializing the co-axial escapement and were key in identifying possible issues – and as well, says Roger, in clarifying the degree to which the escapement really demands the highest precision in manufacturing and setting up.

A constant theme through the watches brought to our office by Roger is precision, and if that precision is wedded to reliability and durability, so much the better. This Mark XI once belonged to Dr. Daniels, who wore it for many years thanks to its unpretentious, very high-quality construction in both the case and movement. The Mark XI watches were made by various manufacturers to British Ministry of Defense specifications and thanks to their purity of design, integrity of purpose, and quality of construction, they've become highly prized.

The Omega Marine Chronometer was first introduced in 1974 and it was part of a period of extensive and intense experimentation at Omega, in creating very high frequency and extremely high precision quartz watches. Ordinary quartz watches have crystals that vibrate 32,768 times per second (a frequency first established as a standard by Girard-Perregaux, in the 1970s) but the caliber 1500 series of movements developed for this watch had crystals that vibrated 2,359,356 per second, making them accurate to about one second per month. Advances in temperature compensation and other technologies have made it possible today to have a quartz watch accurate to five to 10 seconds per year with a standard 32,768 frequency, but in its day this was the most advanced wristwatch in the world. 

This "Ed White" Speedmaster is another of Roger's favorites, and again, it's not only the great history of the watch, but also the wonderful quality of the movement that makes it so special. The caliber 321 is a column-wheel-controlled, lateral-clutch chronograph with an overcoil balance spring and, like many of Omega's greatest movements of the mid-20th century, it is, as Roger describes it, both extremely reliable and very much a watchmaker-friendly movement to service, capable of giving excellent performance decade after decade.

Roger's own daily wear watch is this unassuming Rolex Explorer. As you can imagine, someone with his background and experience sees a watch like this through a different lens than most of the rest of us, and in our conversation he gives us his views on whether Rolex deserves the reputation that it has in some quarters for precision and reliability. As you'll see, he has a great deal to say both in the context of his Explorer, and the other watches he's brought with him, on what he feels really makes for a praiseworthy watch. 

Thanks to Roger for joining us. To find out more about his work, visit him online at RWSmithWatches.com.