By Kathryn Lewis
Isle of Man watchmaker Roger W. Smith has launched a YouTube channel where it will post videos giving watch enthusiasts new insight into its craft.
The channel, the first of its kind, was launched last week by and hosts detailed videos chronicling the extraordinary process involved in creating the house’s hand-crafted time pieces.
The videos feature unusual pieces of equipment – rose and straight line engines – a tool used to decorate dials and watchcases that is rarely used by contemporary watchmakers today. These engines were rescued by the late watchmaker George Daniels, who was teh hous’s watchmkaer Roger Smith’s mentor, from a Clerkenwell cellar in London years ago and restored to their current glory.
Daniels was the first watch maker in history to personally engine-turn his own dials. Over the years, he trained Smith on the notoriously difficult equipment, and Smith in turn mastered the technique.
In 2013 Roger W. Smith will release a series of videos documenting the entire dial making process.
