Ultra High-Grade Watches from the Isle of Man

Thursday, July 19

Wow, a completely awesome and exhausting day today. It concluded with a dinner at the Wrightsville Inn on the waterfront of the Susquehanna River where I had the most delicious crab cakes of my life. But I must dispense with this for now and devote this blog entry to the company I was with and the two museum-grade quality watches I got to hold in my hands and examine.

Our party consisted of myself; friends Nancy Dyer and Al Dodson; Frank Delgreco (former board chairman of NAWCC); and a collector that I'll simply call "John" for privacy reasons. I have never met John before; however I was introduced to him today by Nancy. To look at John, you wouldn't guess that he collects some of the finest handmade watches in the world. He dresses plainly, and walks around with a rather tattered canvas valise from a well known maker of slightly upscale clothing and accessories. But at most any given time, he carries with him usually two ultra high grade watches with him that he shows to people he judges to be aficionados of ultra-high quality watches, made by hand, by individuals who typical make watches at the rate of about 10 pieces per year. And I was lucky enough last night to be judged one of those persons.

After our meal, John lovingly removed from his canvas valise two watches -- one wrist and one pocket -- made by Roger Smith. You won't find Roger Smith watches at Saks Fifth Avenue, or even Tiffany's or Cartier. To call Smith a "watchmaker" is actually doing him a disservice. A "watchmaker" is typically someone who fixes watches. Smith is in a rarefied breed known as a watch builder, one who builds a mechanical timepiece from scratch. Smith apprenticed under George Daniels, considered by many to be the finest builder of watches of the 20th century. Daniels passed away in 2011, but not before convincing Smith to take over his practice on the Isle of Man.

To own a Roger Smith watch, you must contact Smith at his workshop. To get to the Isle of Man is a bit like getting to Hogwarts. No, you don't have to find the secret passageway at a London train station. But you have to get to the island, located in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland, either by boat ferry or airplane. Next, you need to convince Smith you are worthy to own one of his watches. After putting down a considerable deposit, you must then wait five years (sometimes more) for the completion of your order. You may order certain custom detailing to make the watch singularly yours, but this builder of watches makes about 10 "standard" models. Not that there is anything standard about them, but Smith does specialize in a certain type of watch, namely turbillon watches (pronounced TUR be yon). The turbillon was invented around 1795 and compensates for the earth's gravitational pull so that the timepiece keeps better time, especially when the watch is oriented in a certain position (stem up, stem side, stem down) for a long period of time, such as being kept in a vest pocket, or laying on a dresser, or whatever.

Today, a $5 quartz watch from Walmart will keep 10 times better time than a tourbillon, but it was an amazing feat of mechanical engineering for its time. And watch builders like Smith and even mass-quantity watch manufacturers like Patek Philippe and Vacheron & Constantin continue to make them to this day because the mechanism is so fucking elegant. It is hard to describe the experience of looking at a turbillon balance under magnification (such a jeweler's loupe), but it is like something out of Harry Potter or Jules Verne. The oscillating balance wheel, encased inside a tiny cage, appears to "float" in a circular motion around a central pivot point, mimicking the earth's daily rotation, and thereby negating or at least reducing the effect of gravity upon the accuracy of the entire watch movement, which is ultimately dependent on the consistency of the balance wheel's oscillations. Here is a short (1.5 minute) youtube video of a turbillon movement in motion:

watch video

As you see in the video, most turbillon watches employ the use of an exhibition front or back (or both) made of glass or clear sapphire crystal so the owner can see the action of the turbillon and show to other people.

In any event, if you're not asleep by now, I got to hold both of these watches in my hand and examine them under loupe. It's not every day I get to hold a museum-quality timepiece in my hand. The story of how John came to own these pieces is a long one, and I won't go into it. How much they cost was never brought up at the dinner. But I would say that a wristwatch of this quality is well into the five figures (tens of thousands of dollars) and a pocket watch of this caliber, with multiple calendar functions, is comfortably into the six figures. Both of John's are cased in solid 18kt gold, but the cases are almost an afterthought compared to the movements. I will say that Smith sold the watches to "John" at favorable terms, but with the stipulation that "John" not put the watches in a bank vault, but rather carry them, wear them (the pocket watch weighs easily 8 ounces) and show them to interested persons, and explain the time and effort that went into building them. The watches have been through airport screenings multiple times, with reactions from TSA agents ranging from "Oh my God, that's the most beautiful mechanical object I've ever seen" to "Why don't you just buy a $10 Timex at Walmart."

So that is all for this blog entry. I will tell you about other events of the day, including food consumed, in a separate blog entry.

Bruce