Making time

A classic watch is about more than just a pretty face. The world’s best timepieces are works of painstakingly precise handcrafting—and all created in-house

When you think of watchmakers you probably imagine bearded, bespectacled men working in isolation, crafting all the parts by hand and building each timepiece in its entirety.

In reality this has rarely been the case because components have traditionally been outsourced to watch specialists—some making cases, others dials, hands, and so on—with parts then going to a watchmaker for final assembly.

Watchmaking has worked this way for centuries, but the craftsmen who spent long winters at the workbench in snowbound alpine villages have now been replaced by super-efficient, mechanised production lines, where state-of-the-art machinery punches, cuts and presses the tiny components with astonishing speed and accuracy. These are then bought in by the big-name brands, often to be enhanced with mechanical modifications or particular styles of polishing and decoration that make them stand out from the competition.

Considerable kudos is attached to claiming “manufacture” status—that is, having the capability to make the majority of parts in-house—but only a handful of brands can legitimately do so, the most notable being Audemars Piguet, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin and Zenith.

Even rarer are the true watchmakers, the small, ultra-low-volume producers who pride themselves on designing a watch, making all of its parts and assembling them to superlative standards. These watches bear names that only fanatical horolophiles are likely to recognise, such as Greubel Forsey, Jean Dunand and Philippe Dufour. Needless to say, the fact that they are made entirely by hand in very small numbers denotes a hefty price tag.

Philippe Dufour produces no more than 25 examples a year of his aptly named Simplicity model. It has no fancy gadgets—it just records the passing of the hours, minutes and seconds—yet the exquisite level of finish means each example costs upwards of £25,000. Jean Dunand’s Tourbillon Orbital will set you back a cool £270,000, while an eye-watering £380,000 is the price attached to this tiny brand’s Grande Complication model, only six of which will ever be made.

Surprisingly, it is not a Swiss maker but an Englishman who is widely hailed as “the world’s greatest living watchmaker”. Dr George Daniels, 80 this year, has made 26 pocket watches during his remarkable 60-year career. He hand-cuts every component, even the screws, and takes up to 2,500 hours to complete each timepiece. Age and failing eyesight dictate that the project currently on the bench at his Isle of Man workshop may well be his last; but Daniels’ protégé, Roger Smith, is now creating handmade wristwatches at another location on the island.

Smith’s Series 2 models, available in a choice of precious metals, are worth £35,000 each. The first example of a batch of 10 is about to be delivered to a Japanese client, and Smith and his team of two watchmakers are working on the other nine. As Smith explains: “Our clients tend to be wealthy enthusiasts who already have the famous-name watches in their collections and now want something completely different which is entirely designed and made in our workshop.”