Roger Smith introduces… Roger Smith

12/08/2011 | By Frank Geelen | 3 min read |

Especially for the Friday we bring you a collection of videos of one of the best watchmakers of this time. We hope it’s not too busy at the office, so you can relax a bit and enjoy these videos of Roger Smith.

Roger Smith? Who’s Roger Smith? Well for those of you who know, feel free to scroll down to the actual video. When you google for Roger Smith and select the ‘pictures’ tab, the first photo of Roger Smith appears at the end of the second page. Usually when searching for photos of watches, google immediately brings the right ones, even if the name of the watchmaker and the brand are the same. Just try to google for Peter Speake-Marin, Daniel Roth, Gerald Genta or Thomas Prescher and you’ll see photos of the watches and watchmakers. Now try Roger Smith… see what I mean?

Well, to give you an idea… the watch below is made by Roger Smith. It’s entirely hand-made and this is his Series II in platinum.

Independent watchmaker Roger Smith learned the watchmaking skills from nobody less than George Daniels (sure go ahead, click here to google him). George Daniels is most likely famous among a select group of watch aficionados or WIS, however everyone who wears a (relatively new) Omega actually wears an invention of George Daniels on his (or her) wrist. And that is Omega’s co-axial escapement.

Now if you search for Roger Smith in Youtube everything gets different. Roger Smith apparently recorded videos where he talks about watchmaking and explains many details of his watches and even goes into details of manufacturing and finishing different parts. And this is seriously good stuff for every watch aficionados. So let’s hope your Friday is relaxed enough to kick back a bit and enjoy the following video.

Why this video you might ask yourself? First of all, Roger Smith is one of the very best watchmakers on planet Earth. That on itself should be reason enough. But there’s another reason for Monochrome to share Roger Smith’ videos here. In the video (above) Roger tells a similar story about how he learned everything about watchmaking from George Daniels. Some years ago Roger Smith gave a speech for a group of collectors and yours truly was there as well. That very speech is one of the most important factors for Monochrome’s preference for hand-made watches, serious Haute Horlogerie and those made by independent watchmakers.

Here you can find all of Roger Smith’ videos. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

And for those of you who don’t have a relaxed Friday, here’s some eye-candy of the Roger Smith Series II in rose gold. Of course the dial is elegant and classic. Something you’d expect on the wrist of a true gentleman. Nothing too ‘loud’.

And when you turn it around and see ‘what’s under the hood’, one of the finest entirely hand-made movements become visible.

And for the happy few who have the budget to buy one of Roger’s watches and who are on the waiting list (yes, there’s a waiting list), this is how the watch will be delivered.