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Roger W. Smith makes watches the way they were made two centuries ago: one at a time, by hand, on the Isle of Man, with a waiting list measured in years. The Series 1 is his starting point , a 36mm steel manual-wind carrying the co-axial escapement George Daniels invented and Smith inherited the right to build. If you want a living piece of English horology, this is one of the very few places left to find it.
Smith trained directly under George Daniels in the 1990s and was the only watchmaker Daniels ever took on as an apprentice. When Daniels granted Smith a license to use the co-axial escapement, it passed genuine lineage rather than just a design file. The Series 1 launched as Smith's foundational reference, deliberately modest in scale at 36mm to keep the focus on the movement rather than the case.
Each watch is built almost entirely by a single pair of hands over three to six months, from raw materials to finished caliber, a process that limits annual output to a double-digit number of pieces. That constraint is not a marketing posture; it reflects what is actually possible when craftsmanship is the only method.
The waiting list is long and non-negotiable. Smith does not accelerate production for collectors with deeper pockets, so plan for a multi-year wait if ordering new. Secondary market examples appear rarely, and when they do, prices can run well above original retail because supply is genuinely finite rather than artificially restricted.
Provenance matters enormously here: insist on full documentation from Smith's workshop, as the small output makes fakes or frankenwatches a real risk when buying privately. The 36mm case sits noticeably small on larger wrists, which is a deliberate aesthetic choice rather than an oversight, so try one on before committing.
New Series 1 watches sell at prices that reflect the labor involved, typically in the range where independent finishing commands a significant premium over Swiss production pieces at similar case sizes. Resale holds well because supply is structurally capped, not managed by a brand's pricing desk. That said, liquidity is thin; finding a motivated buyer at fair value can take time, so treat this as a long hold rather than a tradeable asset.
The caliber is a Smith-built co-axial movement, hand-finished to Daniels-tradition standards, and it should be serviced by Roger W. Smith's workshop on the Isle of Man. The co-axial escapement extends service intervals relative to a conventional lever, but the movement's bespoke nature means no third-party watchmaker can source parts or legitimately work on it.
Budget for round-trip shipping to the Isle of Man and a longer turnaround than you would expect from a Swiss manufacturer.
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Every Roger W. Smith piece has traceable provenance; the co-axial escapement wheel must be visible through the movement, and purchase without RWS workshop verification is inadvisable.
| Area | What to check | What is correct | Red flag |
|---|---|---|---|
| movement | Co-axial escapement wheel visibility | Co-axial wheel visible within movement architecture through caseback | Standard lever escapement architecture; non-genuine or incorrect movement |
| movement | In-house hand-wound architecture | Hand-wound movement with no rotor; consistent with RWS Series 1 documentation | Automatic rotor present; wrong movement for this reference |
| caseback | Roger W. Smith serial and Series designation | Serial and Series 1 designation correctly engraved | Missing or incorrect engravings; non-genuine caseback |
| movement | Smith-level movement finishing | Hand-done finishing consistent with RWS workshop standards under a loupe | Machine-regular or sub-standard finishing; non-genuine movement |
