This extraordinary ‘one-off’ Series 1 will be the first time a Roger W. Smith watch has been made available for immediate purchase by collectors.
As Britain’s leading watchmaker and Chairman of the sector’s trade body, the Alliance of British Watch and Clock Makers, Roger W. Smith was determined to express his support for the first ever live show dedicated solely to British brands, namely British Watchmakers’ Day, taking place on the 9th March 2024.
“One of the main ideas behind the event is for exhibiting makers to create a special edition watch that is only available for purchase on the day. As Chairman, I wanted to lead by example but, as we make so few watches each year, it was a real challenge! It’s a huge day, a milestone really, for our resurgent watchmaking sector and I will be very proud to see what our trade members are achieving and to have 44 of us together in one space at last. We have a new energy and some brilliant designers emerging. It’s an exciting time to be a British watchmaker.”
Roger W. Smith, Master Watchmaker
As he embarked on the build back in March 2023, Roger Smith went back to his original designs for his Series 1. a time-only piece (showing hours, minutes and seconds), the resulting Series 1 has a deceptively simple yet sumptuous aesthetic. Housed in a 38mm red-gold case, it has a mixed metal dial with a silver engine-turned background inset with red-gold chapters.
The movement is driven by the single-wheel co-axial escapement has his traditional English finish with gilded frosted plates and gold chatons. Roger went back to his sketches and worked with their engraver to create the resulting English rose pattern on the barrel bridge. He says that it is his ideal vision for the Series 1. With an order book which has been closed since 2021 and a sequence of world records being achieved by Roger’s watches at auction, it is no surprise that, in the rarefied world of high-end collectors, this Series 1 is garnering enormous interest.
The Series 1 watch will be on high security display throughout British Watchmakers’ Day, along with the rare opportunity to see some of Roger’s other iconic pieces, such as The GREAT Britain; a Daniels Anniversary watch; and a Series 4 pieces featuring his ‘Travelling Date’ complication.
With a reserve price confirmed at £297,500 (excl. of VAT), the Series 1 special edition will be sold by closed bid auction through the rwsmithwatches.com website and Roger has also committed to make a donation from the proceeds of the sale to the Alliance of British Watch and Clock Makers which is a not-for-profit organisation.
The watch sold for at least £600,000, announced on Roger’s Instagram account, when he announced that the watch had sold for “well over double its original reserve price of £295,000”. which was extraordinary and exceeding expectations, which were around £500,000.
British Watchmaking Day is now sold out and takes place at Lindley Hall in London on the 9th March 2024.
For more information please visit Roger W. Smith watches