George Daniels

George Daniels was a self-taught English watchmaker, historian and author who became the most influential independent watchmaker of the twentieth century. Largely working alone, he made complete watches by hand — case, movement, dial and all components — a working method almost unheard of in an era dominated by industrial and, later, quartz manufacturing, and he wrote Watchmaking (1981), a standard technical reference still used by watchmakers and restorers.

Daniels is best known for inventing the co-axial escapement, patented in the 1970s–1980s, a friction-reducing escapement intended to require far less lubrication than the standard lever escapement and thereby improve long-term rate stability and reduce servicing needs. After years of limited industrial interest, the co-axial escapement was eventually licensed to Omega, which began incorporating it into mainstream production watches from the late 1990s onward, a rare case of an independent horologist's invention reaching mass production within his own lifetime.

Daniels also wrote an important scholarly biography, The Art of Breguet, reflecting his historical expertise alongside his practical work, and mentored a small number of independent watchmakers, most notably Roger W. Smith, who continues to make watches on the Isle of Man using Daniels's methods and a jointly developed co-axial-derived escapement.