The phenomenon known as ‘independent watchmaking’, or what we refer to in this exhibition as ‘artisanal watchmaking’, can arguably be traced to George Daniels (1926-2011). Daniels was an English watchmaker whose rise to prominence began as the English watchmaking industry – once the world’s greatest until the beginning of the 20th century – began its terminal decline.

Like many watchmakers before and after, Daniels himself was inspired by Abraham-Louis Breguet, perhaps the greatest watchmaker of all time. In style and substance Daniels’ work was instantly recognisable as being derived from Breguet. Daniels’ famed Space Traveller’s watch for instance, was not just inspired by Breguet’s double-wheel escapement, but also, its aesthetics was based on the design of a trio of 19th century Breguet pocket watches, namely numbers 2807, 3862, and 3863, all of which have a similar, symmetrical, twin-display layout.

An immensely talented maker of watches in the literal sense, Daniels had mastered 32 of the 34 disciplines required to craft a watch by hand. His approach to making hand crafted watches is a process more commonly referred to as ‘The Daniels Method’ and which he detailed in a seminal book he authored – ‘Watchmaking’. Daniels’ fascination with all things mechanical propelled him to become the most eminent horologist of the late 20th century.

Ever since Thomas Mudge invented the lever escapement in 1755, no other escapement has been applied so extensively throughout the mechanical watchmaking industry. It's dependance on lubrication though was its archillies heel, and was what prompted Daniels to devise a lubricant-free alternative.

Daniels is best known in the wider world as the inventor of the lubrication-free Co-Axial escapement that he sold to Omega and which the brand industrialised and commercialised throughout their collection - he was also exceptionally influential in high-end artisanal watchmaking.

Daniels’ success as a watchmaker was made possible by his well-heeled base of patrons, who included collectors like Seth Atwood (1917-2010), an American industrialist who inherited his family’s automobile hardware business. Atwood even had his own watch museum (The Time Museum) in his hometown of Rockford, a 90 minute drive from Chicago. One of world’s most important watch collectors in the late 20th century, Atwood purchased several watches from Daniels, including the only watch Daniels ever made on commission from a client and which resulted in the invention of the Co-Axial escapement.

During his lifetime, Daniels' dream was to see the Co-Axial enter production and for it to be adopted wholeheartedly by the Swiss watchmaking industry. The Omega Co-Axial, and later the Charles Frodsham Double Impulse Chrometer are two examples, at opposing ends of the spectrum, of the realisation of this dream.