What makes travelling for a watch enthusiast so exciting is that watchmaking is a global hobby. You can find watchmaking in almost every country. The next stop on your watchmaking adventure should most definitely be the Isle of Man - the home of Roger Smith.

The Isle of Man is a self-governing British dependency located between Great Britain and Ireland. It has been under English control since 1399 and is about 572 square kilometers. The population of the island is around 85 thousand, similar to a small city. The first inhabitants were hunter-gatherers and fisherman and now, the dominant industries are insurance, banking, health care, and most interestingly, eGaming (online gambling). The island is extremely picturesque, with very views of the sea. It almost seems like the cities on the Island were created in harmony with the nature around them giving it a peaceful feel.

The main attraction for watch enthusiasts, besides the great history and beautiful landscape is the ability to visit the Roger Smith manufacture. Roger Smith studied under George Daniels, an extremely well-respected English horologist who is best known for creating the coaxial escapement used by Omega. The coaxial escapement helps reduce friction in the escapement, making the need for lubricant obsolete. But, he also is known for using watchmaking techniques similar to Breguet which are documented in his book “Watchmaking”. He also creates every single component of the watch - the case, screws, gears… everything.

Roger Smith studied under George Daniels and uses similar watchmaking methodologies including the creation of every component for the watch. His manufacture is located in Ramsey and he has 8 watchmakers and produces around 13-14 watches every year. You will have an opportunity to see traditional watchmaking, and how much effort and love is put into the creation of each part of a watch. You can also see many of the machines and work benches that they use which were also used by George Daniels.

Enjoy!