You might already know that co-axial escapement was invented by George Daniels in the 1970s, patented in the 1980s, and finally introduced in a commercially-available watch by Omega in 1999. But did you know Daniels shopped the technology around long before selling it to Omega? Well, he did, and next week Sotheby's London will sell one of the only known http://www.nalumar.com/cartier-calibre-de-cartier-replica-uk.htmles containing a George Daniels co-axial escapement.

On the surface, this watch might look like a run-of-the-mill 16220. But inside the steel case, under the white dial, sits a modified custom movement. The customization consists of a standard Breitling Transocean Replica uk caliber 3135 with a 31 jewels slim co-axial escapement added by Daniels himself.

The Sotheby's catalog for The George Daniels Horological Collection sale offers up an an unflattering account of a 1984 meeting between Daniels and Rolex Milgauss Replica uk in Geneva, in which Rolex's chief technician and production technician kept Dr. Daniels waiting precisely seventeen minutes. Daniels didn't take this too kindly, finding it "the height of arrogance." Had the meeting gone differently, who knows what would have happened.

Sotheby's also says that this watch was featured in Daniels's 1986 display at the Basel fair. For the event, he built a large electronic model of the co-axial escapement as his centerpiece. Radiating out from the model were six blue ribbons and at the end of each ribbon was a watch customized to feature the co-axial escapement. These watches were from Omega, Patek Philippe, Zenith, Urban Jurgensen, Daniels, and, you guessed it, Rolex. This, they say, is the very watch from the display.

There are a few problems with this story, however. First of all, the caliber 3135 was introduced until after 1986, which dates this watch to after the anecdotes above. In fact, Sotheby's listing of the watch has the date listed as "Circa 1989," contrary to the explanation given in the lot notes. Some accounts place the actual date of modification to around 1996.

The pre-sale estimate for this piece of watchmaking history is 5,000-7,000 GBP. You can find more details in Sotheby's online catalog. The sale will be held Tuesday, November 6th in London.

http://www.steptalk.org/node/203314
http://hxpomega.soup.io/post/489520782/Whats-Selling-Where-Mega-Rolex-And-Patek
http://hxpomega.centerblog.net/62-what-s-selling-where-mega-rolex-and-patek-philippe-edition
http://my.mmosite.com/5224698/blog/item/whats_selling_where_mega_rolex_and_patek_philippe_edition.html
http://me.zing.vn/zb/dt/hxppandora/20772645?from=my