A muted Fall season at the Geneva watch auctions, hollowed by the postponement of the Only Watch charity event, flickered to life with the sale of a double-signed watch bearing the names of both George Daniels and Roger Smith at Sotheby’s for $2.4 million.
The white gold Millennium model made in 2001 features the names of the late George Daniels, widely considered the greatest UK watchmaker of the modern era, and his then apprentice Roger Smith, who now produces watches under his own name.
The Millennium series watch was completed in 2001 and given by Mr Daniels to his apprentice in lieu of a bonus that year.
He wore it for almost a decade before selling it privately to raise capital for what was at the time a fledgling watch business under his own name.
It is the only timepiece ever made in the workshop that carries both the Daniels London and RW Smith marques on the dial.
A second Roger Smith watch at the Sotheby’s auction was the very first Co-Axial Anniversary Mr Smith produced in 2012, the year after the death of Mr Daniels.
The watch sold for CHF 736,600 ($820,000)
Notably, work started on the watch before Mr Daniels died.
