Roger W. Smith was named one of the 15 greatest watchmakers by The Wall Street Journal back in 2013. He and his team produce just 10 traditional watches a year as well as one-off commissions (for which there is currently an 8-year waiting period). He is best known for his Series 2 (pictured above), the only production wrist watch currently being made within Great Britain. Given how each hand-crafted watch coming out of his studio can be considered a masterpiece, it should come as no surprise that Smith is less than impressed by the upcoming Apple Watch.
Smith describes the Apple Watch as “very good” but “bland” in an interview with Business Insider. “To me, I just find an Apple Watch a bit bland really,” he says. It’s not necessarily the fact that it’s mass produced that drives that conclusion though. Instead, he finds the smartwatch soulless. “People often sort of talk about mechanical watches having a bit of a soul and a life to them,” he says. “You can often relate it to cars. People like the sound of the engine of their cars. It’s the same with watches; people like to hear them tick, people like to see the movements in the back of the watch.”
Smith expects that the Apple Watch will “never have that mechanical connection.” It suggests that he does not see that waiting list for his unique watches to get shorter any time soon. At the same time, history is littered with examples of mechanical devices that have made way for electronic ones.
The Roger W. Smith Series 2 watch starts at £85,000 (about CA$150,000 or US$125,000).
Sources : Business Insider // The Wall Street Journal