The beating heart of nearly every mechanical watch from the last 250 years was first conceived on Fleet Street, London, when Thomas Mudge invented the lever escapement. Improved incrementally over the years including by Abraham Louis Breguet himself, it was never truly bettered despite some 200 recorded attempts. In 1975 the lever escapement was completely revolutionized, quite literally over night, when the self-taught English watchmaker, George Daniels woke up with the idea of the near frictionless Co-Axial escapement.
The Co-Axial escapement was more energy efficient than the contemporary Swiss lever version, not reliant on lubrication and boasted greatly increased service intervals. Surely this invention (patented in 1980) was guaranteed to transform the watch-making industry? Despite presenting the design to some of the most important Swiss brands, none were willing or potentially, able, to adopt the Daniels Escapement and adapt his hand-made innovation for mass production.
For 20 years the admittedly eccentric Englishman was mostly ignored by the adopted home of modern watchmaking in Switzerland before finally finding a partner willing to make the significant financial and technical investments necessary to bring the Daniels escapement out of the workshop and into industrial production. In 1999, however, the talented technicians at ETA and Omega were eventually able to present the first production models, finally cementing the Co-Axial’s place in history, but of course, all signed Omega.
In addition to Daniels rightly being celebrated in the early Omega marketing of their groundbreaking new escapement, part of the commercial agreement was that Daniels would receive a number of Omega ébauche movements. These would be the platform for George’s very first serially produced timepieces. These calibers were reworked and cased by George and his young apprentice, Roger Smith, for sale to a growing number of friends, clients, and collectors, all clamoring to own one.
This example, delivered in the year 2000, showcases many of the visual cues and eccentricities of the pocket chronometers the Daniels name is synonymous with. Indeed, the Millennium clearly shares the bloodline of the world record setting ‘Spring Case’ tourbillon from 1992. The offset chapter rings have the same deeply engraved and richly enameled Roman numerals, both of which feature contrasting guilloché patterns for legibility, counter-weighted seconds hands, and sharp, arrow-tipped hour hands. The bisecting circles differ only due to function, with the Millennium incorporating a date indication at six o’clock.
Of the two differing date configurations offered, this example displays the arguably cleaner, more classical style with a diamond-shaped indication for the 31st, rather than the slightly visually crowded (but oddly charming) ‘31 1’ crowning the date ring. Coupled with the broadly spaced “Daniels London” signature, unconventional crown placement, stepped case and disappearing lugs, the Master’s work is immediately identifiable.
Offered complete with the original box and documentation, this is one of only 48 watches that neither mark the closing of 20th century watchmaking nor the birth of 21st century horology, but perfectly unites the two.