Watchmaking on the Isle of Man: Harwood, Daniels, Smith and Today

How a small island in the Irish Sea shaped the self-winding watch, the co-axial escapement and modern hand-made watchmaking — and what is happening there now.

Watchmaking on the Isle of Man: Harwood, Daniels, Smith and Today

A careful history of John Harwood, George Daniels and Roger W. Smith, and the separate story of watchmaking on the Isle of Man today.

The Isle of Man is approximately 33 miles long, a small island in the Irish Sea with an unusually large place in modern horology. John Harwood developed self-winding wristwatch work there; Dr George Daniels CBE pursued independent watchmaking and the co-axial escapement; and Roger W. Smith OBE continues that tradition in his own way. This is a story about watchmaking on the Isle of Man, not a claim that three very different careers form one neat lineage. Vannin tells it as an admirer, and points readers towards our concise Isle of Man watches guide for the broader context. This is not our heritage to claim. We are simply fortunate to be building a new watch brand on an island with an extraordinary horological story.

A timeline of watchmaking on the Isle of Man

1922: John Harwood moved to the Isle of Man and established a watch-repair business, according to the biographical account checked for this feature. 1923: The British application for Harwood and Harry Cutts’s self-winding watch was filed on 7 July. 1 September 1924: The Swiss patent record for the self-winding watch was published as CH 106583. Mid-1970s: George Daniels developed the co-axial escapement; institutional sources describe its public unveiling by 1976. 1981: Daniels was appointed MBE; his book Watchmaking is discussed later in this article, without assigning it an unconfirmed first-publication year. Early 1980s: Daniels moved to the Isle of Man. Sources differ on the precise year, so this feature uses the broader period. 1998: Daniels invited Roger W. Smith to collaborate on the Omega Millennium project. 1999: Omega released its Co-Axial escapement in calibre 2500. 2001: Roger W. Smith Ltd was founded with Smith’s first Isle of Man workshop. 21 October 2011: Daniels died at his home in Ramsey. 2018: Smith was awarded an OBE. November 2020: The Alliance of British Watch and Clock Makers launched; Smith is its current co-founding Chairman. 2026: Vannin’s Field Watch is a coming-soon automatic watch designed on the Isle of Man.

Who was John Harwood?

John Harwood was born in Bolton in 1893 and trained as a watch repairer. The biographical source checked for this article says that he moved to the Isle of Man in 1922 to establish his own repair business. We do not add a Manx town to that account: the research did not confirm one to the standard required here.

Repair work gave Harwood a practical view of the problems an everyday wristwatch had to solve. A wristwatch was small, exposed to movement and more awkward to wind than a pocket watch. The crown could be vulnerable, too. Harwood’s answer was not simply to miniaturise an existing automatic mechanism, but to develop a system in which the wearer’s motion supplied the winding energy.

How Harwood’s self-winding watch worked

Who invented the self-winding wristwatch? The honest answer needs a qualification. Earlier automatic mechanisms existed, but Harwood is widely credited with one of the first commercially successful automatic wristwatch systems. He did not invent every form of automatic winding. His achievement was turning a self-winding wristwatch into a practical, recognisable commercial idea.

In simple terms, the watch used a pivoted oscillating weight. As the wearer moved an arm, the weight swung through a limited arc. Instead of rotating freely through a full circle, it travelled back and forth and met spring buffers at the ends of its movement. That bumper action drove the winding mechanism and gradually tensioned the mainspring.

The result was a mechanical watch that could replenish its stored energy while being worn. The patent classification explicitly describes automatic winding by oscillating weights whose movement is limited. The useful mental picture is therefore a small pendulum-like weight, controlled by buffers, passing motion into the winding train. It is not a claim that every later automatic watch copies Harwood’s arrangement.

The patent record gives us firm dates without requiring a heroic story. The British application by Harwood and Harry Cutts was filed on 7 July 1923. The Swiss record, CH 106583, was published on 1 September 1924. We use the number because it is present in the primary patent record, not because a later list happens to repeat it.

From an idea to a commercial watch

Harwood’s story is sometimes presented with a long chain of company names, licences and production figures. The research for this article did not establish that entire chain from authoritative pages opened and checked. We therefore do not turn A. Schild, Fortis, Basel, Blancpain, North American licensing or a supposed production total into settled fact here.

What can be said carefully is that the 1920s were a period of intense experimentation in Swiss watchmaking, and that Harwood’s limited-arc system belongs in that first important wave of automatic wristwatch development. Fortis’s own history describes the company’s early involvement with patents and the national fair in Basel, but it does not, on the page checked, prove every detail of Harwood’s commercial story. That distinction matters.

The same restraint applies to the often-repeated account of a company collapse in 1931. It may be part of the established secondary narrative, but this ledger did not secure enough institutional evidence to make the surrounding financial explanation precise. Rather than attach an unsupported number or anecdote to the ending, we leave the commercial aftermath open.

Why Harwood still matters

Harwood helped establish the automatic wristwatch as a practical commercial idea. Later automatic watches use different rotors, winding systems and layouts, but the underlying proposition is familiar: a mechanical watch can use movement from the wearer to keep its mainspring wound. Vannin’s Miyota 9039 is a modern automatic movement in that broad tradition, not a reconstruction of Harwood’s mechanism and not a claim of descent.

From restoration to Ramsey

The research brief proposed Sunderland as Daniels’s birthplace, but the institutional biography opened for this feature gives London. Because the sources conflict, we do not present Sunderland as fact. The reliable outline is more interesting than a disputed birthplace: Daniels began working young, repaired clocks door-to-door, attended evening horology classes at Northampton Polytechnic and developed a deep knowledge of historic watchmaking.

He became particularly associated with the restoration of Breguet watches. The AHCI biography says that he restored many Breguet watches and declined an invitation to take over Breguet in 1967. His first complete mechanical watch was produced in 1969. Those milestones show a movement from repair and restoration towards making complete watches under his own name.

Daniels moved to the Isle of Man in the early 1980s. Sources differ on whether the move belongs to 1981 or 1982, so a broader date is more accurate than false precision. He lived and worked in Ramsey, and died at his home there on 21 October 2011. The name Riversdale is often attached to the story, but it was not confirmed in the authoritative pages opened for this article, so we do not use it as a location claim.

What is a co-axial escapement?

A co-axial escapement is a mechanical watch escapement arranged around concentric, or co-axial, wheels. Compared with a conventional lever escapement, its geometry aims to reduce sliding friction where impulse is delivered to the balance. That means less dependence on lubrication at key contact surfaces, while friction and lubrication still exist elsewhere in the movement. The purpose is stable, durable performance, not a claim that a watch needs no oil.

In a conventional Swiss lever escapement, the locking and impulse surfaces involve sliding contact. Daniels’s co-axial arrangement separates parts of the impulse so that more of the energy transfer approaches radial contact. The geometry does not abolish friction. It reduces a particular kind of sliding at important surfaces, which in turn can reduce the rate at which lubrication becomes a limiting factor there.

That is why “coaxial escapement” sometimes appears without the hyphen in search results, while “co-axial escapement” is the normal form used here. The important idea is not the spelling. It is the attempt to address a persistent mechanical problem with geometry rather than simply adding more oil or accepting the traditional compromise.

Daniels developed the concept in the mid-1970s. The AHCI material describes development in 1974 and says the concept was unveiled by 1976, a small internal date variation that is best handled with the broader wording. No verified patent record was opened for this research, so we do not add a patent number or date.

The Daniels Method

The Daniels Method is best understood as an approach to making a complete watch rather than as a logo, a movement family or a claim that one craftsperson performs every task in the same way. Daniels brought design, movement construction, escapement work, case, dial, hands and finishing into one unusually integrated practice. The maker takes responsibility for the complete object and learns the related disciplines needed to realise it.

The BBC obituary says Daniels created 37 watches, each made from scratch, requiring more than 30 separate skills and more than 2,500 hours. Other summaries use narrower counts for complete watches, excluding or categorising prototypes, pocket watches, wristwatches and collaborative series differently. We therefore avoid pretending that one total settles every definition.

His book Watchmaking remains central to the method’s influence. The Daniels London books page identifies a third edition, revised and reprinted in 1999, but the opened page does not establish the proposed 1981 first-publication date. We use the book as a documented part of Daniels’s teaching legacy without assigning it an unconfirmed date.

The Millennium series and Omega

The co-axial escapement took years to move from independent invention into industrial production. Omega’s official chronicle records the release of its Co-Axial escapement on 12 April 1999. The company describes smaller contact surfaces, less friction and less lubrication, and credits Daniels with the underlying invention. A Swatch Group history identifies calibre 2500 as the launch application.

Omega’s production watches were not hand-made by Daniels. The significance is the transfer of an independent horological idea into a modern industrial calibre. The process required engineering, manufacturing and commercial collaboration on a very different scale from Daniels’s own complete watches.

In 1998 Daniels invited Roger W. Smith to collaborate on the Omega Millennium project because he wanted a young pair of eyes. The official Smith timeline records an initial plan for 12 pieces, later extended to 48 yellow-gold and eight white-gold watches. The last were delivered in 2001. This is a documented collaboration, not evidence that every Omega co-axial watch was made in Ramsey.

Space Traveller and the record books

The Space Traveller watches help explain why Daniels is discussed beyond escapements. The Phillips catalogue identifies Space Traveller I as created in 1982 and Space Traveller II as created in 1983, and describes their timekeeping and astronomical functions. They demonstrate the same instinct that shaped the co-axial escapement: solve a demanding technical problem in a complete, legible object.

Auction stories often reduce those watches to dramatic prices. The Sotheby’s pages opened for this research did not provide usable sale-result text, so we do not publish a multi-million-pound figure, a hammer price or a premium distinction. The watches matter here because of their design and making, not because an unverified number makes a better headline.

The apprentice from Bolton

Roger W. Smith’s official timeline records a first pocket watch in 1990, made after George Daniels visited his college and based on Daniels’s book. After 18 months, Daniels rejected it as too handmade. Smith then made a second pocket watch: a one-minute tourbillon with a detent escapement and four-year perpetual calendar. It was made and remade four times over five and a half years, and completed in early 1997. Daniels’s approval marked a turning point.

In 1998 came the invitation to collaborate on the Millennium project, followed by Smith’s move to the Isle of Man to work with Daniels. It is tempting to reduce this to a conventional apprenticeship, but the official account is more specific: a developing watchmaker was invited into a demanding collaboration and relationship. Smith founded Roger W. Smith Ltd in 2001, with his first island workshop.

Smith’s present workshop philosophy says his watches are designed, manufactured and built within his Isle of Man workshop. That is a statement about Smith’s own practice and should not be generalised to every brand that has an island connection. Since 2006 he has also developed the Daniels co-axial escapement for his own movements.

Series 1 to Series 6

The current official collection is broader than the Series 1–5 list often repeated in older articles. Series One is a time-only watch first delivered in 2018, inspired by the GREAT Britain design, with 38 or 40 mm options and an Open Dial option. Series Two began as a 2004 concept, with a prototype completed in February 2006; it was the first production movement specifically designed around Daniels’s co-axial escapement and adds a power reserve.

Series Three uses a retrograde calendar at 12 o’clock and a symmetrical dial, with an Open Dial option. Series Four combines hours, minutes and seconds with a triple calendar and moon phase in a 41 mm case; the official page says its first delivery was in 2020 and that it was the 100th watch under the R.W. Smith name. Series Five is the 2019 Mark 2 version of the original Series Two Open Dial, exposing under-dial work and hand finishing.

The official page now also includes Series Six, with hours, minutes and seconds on a floating central dial and a date shown through a travelling aperture. This matters because current information should win over an old search snippet. The range is not a static list, and the workshop’s work should not be described using yesterday’s architecture.

Independent watchmaking in Ramsey

Smith’s current contact page states an annual production of approximately 15 to 20 pieces in total. His homepage separately says 185 watches have been created so far; that is a cumulative figure, not an annual output. Current official pages do not publish retail prices or a waiting-list status. For a commission, the accurate answer is price on application and direct enquiry.

Smith received an OBE in 2018. He is also the current co-founding Chairman of the Alliance of British Watch and Clock Makers. The Alliance launched in November 2020 to give renewed energy in the sector a voice and practical direction. Smith’s role places the Isle of Man within a wider British watchmaking conversation, without making the Crown Dependency part of the United Kingdom.

Watchmaking on the Isle of Man today

The island’s horological identity contains several different kinds of connection. Harwood’s repair work and self-winding experiments belong to its history. Daniels and Smith represent high-end independent watchmaking and work carried out on the island. Other watches are about the island rather than from design work there. That distinction is useful when considering Isle of Man TT editions.

Bremont announced in 2019 that it had become Official Watch and Timing Partner of the Isle of Man TT and Classic TT, with limited-edition TT watches primarily retailed through Dunwells on the island. That verifies an association and a retail relationship. It does not establish manufacture on the Isle of Man, so we do not describe those watches as island-made.

Vannin: a modest new chapter

Vannin is an independent watch microbrand created on the Isle of Man by Peter Jones and Andy Pickett. The name comes from Ellan Vannin. Its first collection is the Vannin Field Watch, designed on the Isle of Man in four colourways: Irish Sea Blue, Mountain Green, Western Sky Orange and Manannán’s Cloak Grey.

The Field Watch is a 38 mm watch in 316L stainless steel with a Miyota 9039 automatic movement, double-domed sapphire and 100 m water resistance. Its planned price is £399. It is coming soon, with register-interest information rather than an invitation to buy today.

Vannin is not hand-making watches using the Daniels Method. It is not claiming descent from Harwood, Daniels or Smith. Vannin is not associated with or endorsed by Roger W. Smith, and it has no formal association with John Harwood or George Daniels. Vannin is designed and created on the Isle of Man; we do not publish manufacturing or assembly origins that have not been confirmed. We do not claim this history as our own. Vannin is simply a new Manx watch brand being designed on an island whose horological story deserves to be better known. Our separate British microbrand guide explains the difference between brand identity, design location and manufacturing origin.

Visiting, reading and going further

The island’s museums and archives are useful starting points for local research. Manx National Heritage’s collections and Manx Museum resources explain how to approach material held for research; image reuse is a separate rights question. We have not used a historical portrait or patent drawing here.

Isle of Man Government: an overview; John Harwood biographical record; John Harwood patent record, CH 106583; Fortis history; AHCI biography of George Daniels; Daniels London books; Omega: the 1999 co-axial escapement; Roger W. Smith evolution; Roger W. Smith workshop; Roger W. Smith watches; Roger W. Smith contact; Phillips: Space Traveller I and II; BBC obituary of George Daniels; Bremont and the Isle of Man TT; Alliance of British Watch and Clock Makers

FAQ

Who invented the self-winding wristwatch? Earlier automatic mechanisms existed, so no single person invented automatic winding in all its forms. John Harwood is widely credited with one of the first commercially successful self-winding wristwatch systems. His 1923 British application and 1924 Swiss patent describe a limited-arc oscillating weight that used wrist motion to wind the mainspring.

Who is the famous watchmaker on the Isle of Man? There is not only one. John Harwood developed important self-winding wristwatch work after moving to the island; Dr George Daniels lived and worked there; and Roger W. Smith continues independent watchmaking there. They belong to different generations and different kinds of horological work.

Where did George Daniels live? Daniels moved to the Isle of Man in the early 1980s and lived and worked in Ramsey. He died at his home there on 21 October 2011. Sources checked for this article differ on the exact move year, and Riversdale was not used as an unconfirmed location detail.

What is a co-axial escapement? A co-axial escapement uses concentric wheels and a geometry intended to reduce sliding friction at key impulse surfaces compared with a conventional lever escapement. That can reduce dependence on lubrication at those contacts and support stable performance. It does not remove every source of friction or mean that a movement needs no lubrication.

How many watches did George Daniels make? The BBC obituary says Daniels created 37 watches, while narrower accounts count only certain complete watches and classify prototypes, pocket watches, wristwatches and collaborations differently. The safest answer is that he made very few complete watches by modern production standards; a single total needs a definition.

How much does a Roger W. Smith watch cost? Current official pages checked for this feature do not publish retail prices. Smith’s watches are available by direct enquiry or commission, so pricing is on application rather than a figure we should invent from secondary estimates.

Are Vannin watches made on the Isle of Man? Vannin is created and designed on the Isle of Man. It is an independent Manx watch brand, and the Field Watch is coming soon at £399. Manufacturing and assembly origins are not implied here because they have not been published as confirmed facts. Read the broader origin explanation in our Isle of Man watches guide.

Is the Isle of Man part of the UK? No. The Isle of Man is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, not part of the United Kingdom. It has its own parliament, government and laws; the UK acts on the Crown’s behalf for international relations. It is in the British Isles, but that is not the same as being in the UK.

Sources checked September 2026. Corrections welcome — email us.