Salon Sightings

A BRITISH INVASION
The show’s London setting may have been the main factor for the good number of British participants, but we can’t ignore the fact that there has been a resurgence of watchmaking tradition in the United Kingdom these past few years.
As Giles English, co-founder of Bremont, explained to me at their recent brand launch in Hong Kong, a lot of people don’t realize that many of the watchmaking greats that Swiss manufactures revere come from the UK, like Thomas Tompion, George Graham, John Harrison, and of course the living legend, George Daniels, who created Omega’s famous co-axial escapement.
It was actually a collaboration with Daniels, and Isle of Man watchmaker Roger Smith, that was the domestic highlight of this year’s Salon. Guests were treated to the world premiere of the Co-Axial Anniversary Edition, a watch that features a proper English-style movement, jointly designed by Daniels and Smith, and finished to the 84-year-old watchmaker’s rigorous standards.

The Co-Axial Anniversary Edition was modelled after a tourbillon chronograph pocket watch that Daniels created in 1994, with a 40mm gold case and a solid silver dial guillochéd by hand and embellished with 18k gold, and featuring the watchmaker’s signature hands. Smith remarked that the watch is a “classic Daniels; and represents the seamless connection to the work George did in his prime.” The manual-winding calibre displays the hours, minutes, seconds, date and power reserve. Smith plans to produce the models in his workshop on the Isle of Man.