George Daniels (watchmaker)

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George Daniels CBE (born August 1926 in London , † October 21, 2011 on the Isle of Man ) was a British watchmaker and author. He was the inventor of the co-axial escapement for wrist and pocket watches, which has been manufactured industrially by the manufacturer Omega since 1999 .

Life and horological achievement

Daniels came from a poor background. Fascinated by mechanical watches from an early age, he taught himself how to repair watches. He left school at the age of 14, but could not start a watchmaker's apprenticeship for financial reasons. Until its convening 1944 he talked with various minor jobs of all kinds. During his military service in the Middle East, among other things, he repaired the clocks of his comrades, which encouraged him to devote himself fully to watchmaking after the war. After learning watchmaking in evening classes and finding a job as a watchmaker, he became a "Fellow" of the British Horological Institute . He later opened his own watch shop and restored old watches.

Through Sam Clutton, a befriended watch collector, he became aware of the French master watchmaker Abraham Louis Breguet . The enthusiasm for Breguet's life's work not only led to a book about his pocket watches, but also to the decision to design his own watch. He started work on his first pocket watch in 1967 and it took him two years to complete. Daniels sold it to Clutton in 1969 for £ 1,900. He made other pocket watches entirely by hand, always careful that, like his role model Breguet, never build two identical watches. He worked intensively on the solution to the lubrication problem in watch escapements . When the temperature changes, this lubrication causes deviations in the time measurement. In the 1970s he invented the co-axial escapement, which does not require lubrication, and applied for a patent in 1980. But it wasn't until 1994 that he was able to convince a watch manufacturer, the Swiss Omega SA , to mass-produce his escapement. In 1999 the “Omega De Ville” wristwatch series appeared for the first time with a co-axial escapement .

Daniels has lectured on ancient and contemporary watchmaking at Harvard University , the Cambridge Philosophical Society , the British Horological Institute, and the American Watchmakers Institute . He was a member of the British Horological Institute and the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers (founded 1631). 1979/1980 he was president of both organizations.

The pocket watch, handcrafted by Daniels for Sam Clutton, fetched around US $ 250,000 at auction in the United States.

In July 2006, in honor of his 80th birthday, Sotheby’s dedicated a retrospective to him in London and enabled an exhibition with 36 of Daniels handcrafted watches, his drawings and other works.

honors and awards

Daniels was an honorary member of the Académie horlogère des créateurs indépendants (AHCI) . The City University of London awarded him an honorary doctorate. He has received various awards, including the Tompion Gold Medal of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers in 1980 , the British Horological Institute Gold Medal , the City and Guilds of London Gold Medal , the Arts Science and Learning award of the City of London and the Victor Kullberg Medal the Stockholm Watchmaker's Guild .

In 1982 Daniels received the Order of the British Empire at the member level . In 2010 he was awarded the Commander level .

Publications

  • Watches , BT Batsford Ltd., London 1965, ISBN 978-0-670-75076-4 .
  • English and American Watches , 1966.
  • The Art of Breguet , Sotheby Parke Bernet, London 1974, ISBN 0-85667-004-9 .
  • L'ouvre de Abraham-Louis Breguet , 1976. Exhibition catalog for the Breguet exhibition in the Musée International d'Horlogerie in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
  • Watches. A Complete History of the Technology and Development of the Watch , Sotheby Parke Bernet, London 1979, ISBN 0-85667-058-8 .
  • with Cecil Clutton: Clocks and Watches in the Collection of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers. London 1980.
  • Watchmaking , Sotheby's, London 1981, ISBN 0-85667-150-9 .
  • Watches and Clocks: Salomon's Collection , Sotheby Parke Bernet, London 1983, ISBN 0-85667-074-X .
  • The Practical Watch Escapement , Isle of Man (UK), 1994
  • All in good time: reflections of a watchmaker , Isle of Man (UK), 2000 (autobiography)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Telegraph, October 24, 2011 George Daniels, who has died aged 85. Retrieved May 8, 2016
  2. ↑ The OMEGA Co-Axial Technology . Retrieved May 8, 2016
  3. ↑ Interview with George Daniels at Baselworld 2010 , accessed on May 8, 2016
  4. ^ Member - Daniels, George , Retrieved May 8, 2016
  5. ^ Awards for Excellence in Horology The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers , Recipients of The Tompion Medal 1980. Retrieved May 8, 2016
  6. ↑ BBC - Isle of Man watchmaker Dr George Daniels is awarded CBE. In: news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved October 22, 2011 .
personal data
SURNAME Daniels, George
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British watchmaker and author
DATE OF BIRTH August 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH London , England, UK
DATE OF DEATH October 21, 2011
Place of death Isle of Man , UK