Somewhere in the Isle of Man, in a small studio no one has every heard of, the best watches in the world are born.
They haven't been created by a luxury brand with a team of watch specialists and unlimited resources, but rather a single man called George Daniels. Considered the finest watchmaker in the world, Daniels was the first person to make every component of a watch from scratch by hand. The timepieces he built are considered the most unique and technically advanced watches ever made, and coveted by watch enthusiasts across the globe.
Daniels died in 2011, bequeathing his entire workshop to his apprentice Roger W. Smith who continues what is known as the “Daniels method” of handmaking watches. Smith started his own studio in 2001 and now produces around 10 watches every year. Each watch (which start at £95,000) takes more than six months to create by hand.
Theses days, when we think of technology, we think of faster internet, more capable devices, humanoid bots and TVs that bend. But the reality is, that is just new technology. It isn’t however, the most incredible technology, or necessarily what we would call beautiful technology.
And the beauty of technology matters.
It is no coincidence that many of the world’s greatest technical and scientific minds have been equally obsessed with the beauty of a solution, as they are with usefulness of it. Steve Jobs was fixated on creating beautiful devices that were an extension of our own being as much as they were a highly functional machine. Einstein was set on finding a theory to connect everything that was as elegant as it was accurate. And Daniels was obsessed with the art of creating something that was as perfect technically, as it was to observe.
The story of Daniels reminds us that the energy and attention we put into our work matters—whether it is something that seemingly has no soul like a VoIP business phone system, or something that obviously does like a handmade pair of shoes. Energy, almost like magic, shows up in these lifeless systems and objects—arguably in direct correlation to the amount we put in to creating them.
But the truth is, most of us do just enough to do a ‘good job’, or even an ‘ok job’ to the extent there are no negative consequences. It is a rarity that we find a product or service that has, at its heart, the mission to be a perfect offering… a truly beautiful offering… the kind of offering that can provide enough satisfaction to its creator to sustain an often long and laborious creation process.
The choice however—and it is a choice—is ours. We can all create beautiful things. And perhaps if we put more effort in to the things we do create, we would achieve the kind of satisfaction that Daniels did, that Smith does, or even that world class athletes do. Creating can be anything from a watch, to a perfect race, to a business solution that truly helps the client.
About VTSL
VTSL is an employee-owned telecoms provider specialising in cloud-based communications and hosted VoIP business phone systems. With nearly 10 years of experience providing unified communications solutions to small and medium businesses across the UK & Ireland, and an ethos revolving around providing a simply better service, VTSL has proven itself to be a uniquely different type of telecommunications company. VTSL offers all inclusive-pricing, guaranteed voice quality, dozens of free features and the fastest customer support in the industry. For more information visit www.vtsl.net or call 020 7078 3200.
