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George Daniels - My second book: 'English & American Watches' (55/85)

1,794 views · Published 12 July 2017 · 1:02 · Indexed 14 November 2026

Channel: Web of Stories - Life Stories of Remarkable People · 2017 · Science & Technology

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English watch-maker George Daniels (1926-2011) was most famous for creating the co-axial escarpment and could make a complete watch by hand.  In his lifetime, he received many awards, including the rarely-given Gold Medal of the Clockmakers' Company of London. [Listener: Roger Smith; date recorded: 2003]

TRANSCRIPT: So that was my first foray into writing and I felt quite a chap, you know, and I'd walk about knowing that I was a proper author, you know, got my name on a book. And then I was approached... you see, notoriety descended on me... and I was approached by Abelard-Schuman Publishers in America, would I write a book on watches for them. Well I couldn't write a book on watches, I'd just done a book on watches with Sam. So I wrote a book called ‘English & American Watches’, this was a slot of the market that hadn't been opened up before, and I found enough English invented devices and enough American mass produced watches to knit this book together you see. And it was received in... somewhat disdainfully by some members of the antiquarian society, but they couldn't deny the validity of this book. It was about English and American watches and it had covered every aspect of the development of the watch, so it could be justified. But obviously it wasn't academic enough for these people.

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