In 1999, my parents took me on a guided tour of the Tower of London to see Britain’s Crown Jewels. I was shocked at how much they resembled Mardi Gras trinkets my aunt Cathy gathered by the bag-full in New Orleans. Granted, the real ones were priceless works of art, and the American ones were plastic beads.
But the sheer shock value of seeing so much gold, emeralds, rubies, and diamonds in the Tower was diminished by my prior exposure to the imposters.
Roger W. Smith Series 4
So, when I say that the Roger W. Smith Series 4 is a real crown jewel, I mean that both out of respect and a sense that its inherent quality is obscured by less extraordinary but more bombastic rivals. It’s austere, deliberately reserved, and quietly confident amid a world of indie watches buffed and beveled brightly enough to blind an eye.
The Series 4 does not browbeat its owner with opulent overkill. It merely implies the hundreds of hours invested in it, the 400 years of British watchmaking tradition that inform it, and its direct links to the legacy of George Daniels. Only with time, scrutiny, and some study can these qualities be appreciated in full.
Roger W. Smith Series 4
If you want something so outrageous that the gen-pop will marvel, get an Urwerk. If you want a watch polished to the extreme and festooned with complications, see Greubel Forsey. But if you want something reflective of an auteur master and his personal values, the Series 4 might be for you.
Roger W. Smith – the man and his brand – became famous for a longtime association with innovative but mercurial British master watchmaker George Daniels. Daniels’ is best known in the watch world as the inventor of the Co-axial escapement developed in 1974 and industrialized by Omega from 1999 onward.
To be sure, his body of work stretches far beyond this mainstream contribution, and he sought assistance serializing Daniels-branded watches towards the end of his career. He brought Smith on board as an apprentice and collaborator from 1998 to 2011.
Daniels was slow to warm to anyone, but he eventually took to Smith. Many Daniels-branded watches starting with the Millennium Series in 1998 and – particularly – the Anniversary series of 2009 are Smith executions in large part. Daniels’ operation on the Isle of Man, his Co-axial escapement, and his philosophy of watchmaking were bequeathed to Smith at the time of the master’s passing in 2011.
While Smith had produced watches under his own name as early as 2001, the death of Daniels allowed his apprentice to find his own creative space.
The 2012 “GREAT Britain” initiative was a U.K. government program to highlight the best of British art, science, and heritage co-incident with that year’s summer Olympic Games in London. Smith’s “GREAT Britain” watch, a piece unique, provided much of the engineering and design language that would define the next generation of Roger W. Smith watches.
In 2015, these watches, the Series 1-4, were announced. Today’s survey watch is a unique example of the Series 4 – of which roughly ten of are believed to exist as of fall 2024.
From the outside working inward, it’s clear that this is a cottage industry product. Welded and hand-filed lug junctions marry the case to its appendages. At six o’clock on the caseback, one encounters an array of hallmarks alien to Swiss watchmaking.
Hall marks between the lugs of a Roger W. Smith Series 4
In order from left to right, there’s the Roger W. Smith workshop maker’s mark, a pair of hallmarks indicating 18-karat gold hallmarked in Britain, a cat indicating London assay, an “X” indicating 2022 hallmarking, and a symbol of a crown corresponding to the “Platinum Jubilee” – 70 years of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign.
As with many vintage watches and modern watches crafted in that tradition, there is no branding or signature on the crown. At 41mm, this is the largest of the current RWS model line.
Roger W. Smith Series 4
Dial side, the pedigree of this watch becomes more apparent. Smith cuts his dials on traditional lathes using silver and gold for the dial bases. While subtle, the use of screws to fix the overlapping structures is a distinctive trait of Smith dials rarely seen elsewhere in the industry.
Hands are distinctive in their violet-brown hue, which requires a shorter and more disciplined firing than blued steel.
Beautifully sculptured spade-tip hand of the Roger W. Smith Series 4
The spade-like form of the tip is a signature of Smith’s work. All numerals and characters are engraved and filled manually. While the result varies from the perfection of a machine, this is haute horlogerie, and we pay for the human touch. If you want perfection and a Co-axial, get an Omega.
While not as elaborate as the GREAT Britain, the Series 4 dial is the most dynamic of the collection, unless the transparent face of the Series 5 is considered. A triple calendar system isn’t groundbreaking by 2024 standards, but its simultaneous and instantaneous change at 12am remains thrilling.
Granted, this may not be a feature commonly observed by the owner, but coordinating the instant jump of four separate registers is the kind of feat that speaks to the skill that underpins this construction.
Aesthetically Smith’s calendar system is conventional with the exception of the circumferential and entrenched date display. The creator strove to prevent the date from obscuring the dial and its centered displays. Rather than use a “pointer date,” Smith entrenched the orbital date indicator between the outer dial and inner face of the case.
True, Moritz Grossmann has a similar system, but Smith’s adds the drama of depth-of-field.
Movement of the Roger W. Smith Series 4
On its reverse, the Series 4 closely resembles the other watches in the current RWS collection. At first glance, it seems colorful but barren of ornamentation. Few watches in this price range do entirely without anglage on major bridges, and the gentle frosting of the gilded planes can be lost to a hasty glance.
But there’s true hand-engraving on the ratchet wheel/crown wheel cover in the fashion of Daniels and countless 18th-century British masters who preceded him.
Intricate hand engraving on the Roger W. Smith Series 4
The quality of the engraving speaks to the miniscule size of the shop constructing this watch. In a larger operation, this kind of floral scrolling would be executed perfectly by a specialist who does nothing else. At RWS, the work likely is the result of a watchmaker who is expected to provide all the technical arrangements and aesthetic embellishments as part of his routine.
Hand engraved balance cock of the Roger W. Smith Series 4
There’s additional engraving on the balance cock, but this will never be mistaken for a Lange.
Polished domed blue screws of the Roger W. Smith Series 4
Details matter. The screws are beautiful bombés with vaulted camber distinct from the relentlessly flat screws of most modern watch construction; color is a twilight hue between blue and purple.
Gold screwed chatons fixing the jewels of the Roger W. Smith Series 4
Rose gold chaton cups hold the barrel arbor and first train wheels while projecting gratuitously proud of the underlying bridges.
Isle of Mann triskelion emblem shield of the Roger W. Smith Series 4
Smith provides a shield with triskelion atop the three-quarter bridge to remind the fortunate owner that this watch was realized on the Isle of Man. Train wheels are gloriously polished gold with mirrored surfaces. And then there’s the business end: the regulator.
Perhaps the most surprising features of this movement are its use of a modern “Quadrajust” free sprung balance and lack of an overcoil hairspring. Smith may have found that competent multi-position adjustment obviates need for the latter, and Daniels was fond of the former. The stud holder, which is mirrored steel and brilliantly beveled, is one of the most elaborately decorated features of the entire watch.
Mirror polished stud holder at 3 o’clock inside the balance wheel of the Roger W. Smith Series 4
Beat rate is a sedate 2.5 Hz, which seems logical given the size of the balance. Pleasingly – many cottage brands lack this – hacking seconds is part of the package.
A lavishly polished cock bridge for the escape wheel indicates this is no mean escapement. As the latest evolution in a journey started by Daniels and continued by Smith, this co-axial is based on the monobloc, lightweight, and single-wheel system introduced on the GREAT Britain.
The co-axial escapement invented by George Daniels
In essence, it’s one blued wheel with broad horizontal impulse faces on the lower plane and crenelated towers like a column wheel on the upper plane. All of this is cut from a single piece of metal, and mass reduction is significant compared to previous iterations.
The system works by tangentially impulsing several jewels on the roller table in both direct and indirect-impulse fashion. Tangential friction – as opposed the sliding friction of a lever escapement – is the purpose. And while this system never will be confused with the ones currently ticking in millions of Omegas, it is a three-level system.
The evolution of Roger Smith’s co-axial escapement
Early co-axials involved a lower impulse wheel and an upper impulse wheel; the upper one was also the last gear in the drivetrain, which marginalized both of its functions. Smith’s latest has train wheel gearing on the lowest plane and impulse surfaces topside.
Intriguingly, the literature included with the watch speaks of 10-to-15-year service intervals and up to 20 years if lightly used. The low-lube/no-lube co-axial escapement likely takes some credit for this feat.
The Series 4 is a tangible product defined by intangible appeal. Ultimately, Roger W. Smith is a man, and the Series 4 is a watch. Metaphysical matters have no sway here. A Series 4 is worth what it is because enough people share Smith’s values and embrace the legacy of his predecessors.
Roger W. Smith Series 4
These fortunate few souls value the rarity of a truly hand-crafted product made in no more than a dozen examples per year across all possible variants. It won’t be my pleasure to own this watch; I can’t afford it. But the experience was priceless.
For more information, please visit www.rwsmithwatches.com/
Quick Facts: Roger W. Smith Series 4
Reference Code: None
Edition: Launched in 2015; featured watch believed to be unique as of 2024
Case: Yellow gold; 41mm diameter; 14.7mm thick; 48.3 lug-to-lug; 19.5mm lug spacing; welded lugs; 30 meters of water resistance; push down crown; maker’s mark by RW Smith; hallmarked Britain; London assay; signature “X” for 2022; Queen Elizabeth II 70th hallmark (Platinum Jubilee)
Strap: Brown alligator leather strap
Clasp: Yellow gold pin buckle
Dial: Sterling silver and yellow gold blanks, lathe guilloché, screw-fixed component assembly, manually profiled and purple-fired steel hands
Movement: RW Smith Series 4; manual wind; 52-hour power reserve; 2.5Hz; free-sprung “Quadrajust” balance; monoblock wheel Daniels co-axial escapement; stop seconds (hacking); instantaneous and simultaneous calendar and moonphase jump; freehand engraved cover for ratchet wheel and crown wheel; freehand engraved balance cock; screw-fixed chatons for train pivot jewels
Functions: Hours; minutes; seconds; day; date; month; moonphase
2024 Preowned Market Price: $900,000
* Tim Mosso is the media director and watch specialist at The 1916 Company. You can check out their very comprehensive YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/@the1916company.
You might also enjoy:
Behind The Lens: Roger Smith Series 2
Behind the Lens: Unique Reference 28 Inverse by Kari Voutilainen
Introducing The Vincent Deprez Handmade Tourbillon Classique Souscription Edition: Traditional Artisanal Independent Watchmaking At Its Best