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Breaking News The George Daniels Space Traveller Pocket Watch Sells For $4.3 Million At Sotheby's London

In just five years, the historic watch has more than doubled in value..

Yesterday, Jack shared with you his abiding love for the so-called Space Traveller , George Daniels's masterpiece pocket watch. Today that watch was sold at Sotheby's London and fetched an incredible $4.3 million (£3,196,250 to be precise). While that's a big price any day of the week, the result is even more striking in context. Luckily we've got the full story.

This is the second time the Space Traveller has changed hands this decade. Back in 2012, as part of a larger sale of Daniels's estate, the Space Traveller was the top lot , fetching £1,329,250 (approximately $2,124,142 at the time). This meant that the one lot made up more than 10% of the total value of the auction, which was comprised of 137 lots. It more than doubled its high estimate at the time and everyone thought the result was a strong statement about the enduring value of Daniels's creations. We covered the sale live , and even went hands-on with the Space Traveller too. 

A look at the Space Traveller's spectacular movement.

Fast forward to now though and it seems interest (and the market) has only grown stronger. On an estimate of £1,200,000-1,800,000, the Space Traveller sold today for £3,196,250 (approximately $4.3 million). This is another extremely strong result – an even stronger one than many were expecting. One thing to think about here is that with exchange rates in major flux over the last few years, and the British Pound being relatively weak globally, we've seen a major spike in watch buying in the UK in general, and it's not crazy to think that this watch being sold in London could have done it some favors too.

For the full listing and more results from today's sale, visit Sotheby's online .

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George Daniels Space Traveller I Watch Sold For £3.6m, Record for World's Most Expensive English Watch

George Daniels (1921 - 2011), a legendary horologist, created the one-of-a-kind Space Traveller I watch in 1982. And just yesterday, the watch was sold in London for over £3.6m (US$4.6m), breaking the world auction records of an English watch as well as of an independent watchmaker.

Many are familiar with luxury watch producers like Rolex and Patek Philippe but very few might have heard of the name George Daniels. To find out how his watch achieved such an extraordinary price, we must get to know the story of this outstanding watchmaker. 

George Daniels Space Traveller I 18k yellow gold pocket watch

George Daniels

Born in 1926, George Daniels came from a working-class family in London, suffering through poverty and abuse in his early years. The only place where he found joy was in the mechanics of timepieces. In 1944, Daniels joined the British army and left in 1947.

With only £50 of gratuity in his pocket, Daniels bought some tools and became a watch repairer. He also attended horology classes at night to improve his skills. After a decade of hard work, in 1960, he finally opened his first watch repair and cleaning shop in London. Daniels was particularly interested in the works of the early 19th-century French watchmaker Bruget and soon became an expert on Bruget. 

Daniels started out as a watch repairer

Draft of the Space Traveller coaxial escapement design 

Meanwhile, Daniels became good friends with Sam Clutton, who was a vintage watch dealer. Daniels began to investigate into expensive handcrafted watches, and under Clutton's convincing, he embarked on a journey of watchmaking. In 1969, Daniels sold his first handcrafted pocket watch to Clutton for £2,000.

One of the most prominent achievements of Daniels was creating the coaxial escapement in 1974. Traditional escapements had to use lubricants but this eventually caused problems with accuracy as oil thickened over time. However, the coaxial escapement used radial friction instead of sliding friction, making lubricants unnecessary. This design was widely used in the 1990s Omega watches. 

George Daniels (left) and American astronaut Eugene Cernan (right)

Throughout his life, Daniels only produced 23 watches, Space Traveller I being one of them. Created in 1982, the name of the watch pays tribute to the NASA Apollo missions.

Daniels expressed his interest in space exploration in an interview, saying that space technology is the world's most advanced technology and hoped to become part of it. He incorporated the mean-solar and sidereal times, age and phase of the moon as well as the equation of time indications in the Space Traveller I for the needs of astronauts. 

Dial with Arabic numerals located on the right shows the sidereal time, dial with Roman numerals shows the mean solar time; second dials are located below

The backside of the watch opens up to its coaxial escapement

Space Traveller's design layout 

Solar time is the time system that we use, measured according to the apparent time and the path of the sun, which means that a solar day is 24 hours long. Sidereal time is measured according to how long it takes for the sun to rotate a full circle which takes 23hrs 56m 4.1s.

As the Earth's axis of rotation is tilted, there is a time difference between the actual times of sunset and sunrise and the time shown on the watch. Therefore, the inverted fan-shaped dial on the watch shows the time difference, according to different seasons. The largest difference is 16 minutes. 

Space Traveller II sold for £3.2m in 2017

With such a delicate and complicated mechanism, Space Traveller watches are unique in their design and extremely valuable. In 1982, Daniels sold Space Traveller I to a collector but quickly realised that he regretted it. In the following year, he produced another one named Space Traveller II.

The present Space Traveller I was first auctioned in Sotheby's Geneva in 1988 for CHF220,000 (US$222,987). 30 years later, its price has soared to over £3.6m (US$4.6m) which is almost 30 times its previous selling price.

As to where the Space Traveller II resides, the watch had been in Daniels' collection until his death in 2011. In 2017, Space Traveller II was sold in Sotheby's London for £3.2m, setting the auction record for an English watch at the time. The record is now replaced by Space Traveller I. 

The most expensive English watch 

George Daniels (1926-2011) Yellow Gold Watch With Daniels Double-wheel Escapement, Mean-solar And Sidereal Time, Annual Calendar, Age And Phase Of Moon And Equation Of Time Indications 1982 Space Traveller I

Lot no.: 143 Created in: 1982 Diameter: 62.5mm

Estimate: £700,000 - £1,000,000 Price realised: £3,615,000

Auction summary

Auction house: Sotheby's London Sale: Masterworks Of Time: George Daniels, Visionary Sale date: 2 July 2019

Lots offered: 143 Sold: 120 Unsold: 23 Sold by lots: 84% Sale total: £6,300,814

Related Articles

• Dr. George Daniels CBE
• The Watches

The Anniversary Watch

The Space Traveller

Dr. Daniels was on a trip to Zurich where he met an important collector for dinner. The collector nudged him and said ‘what do you have in your pocket’, so he took out his watch, a gold Daniels pocket watch with independent double-wheel escapement. The collector said he had to have the watch and asked him to sell it to him. Dr. Daniels said it was not for sale but the collector persisted. Dr. Daniels thought this was an enormous compliment as he did not even ask the price, and so sold him the watch. Dr. Daniels immediately regretted selling this watch and therefore decided to make another which would be an improvement on the first both in terms of complication and accuracy. Having not fully exploited the first watch, the second watch would have separate calculations for each train, it was therefore possible to indicate both mean-solar and sidereal time.In the 18th century to check the accuracy of your watch you had to have a precision clock which was set by a star. This watch by means of having solar and sidereal time could make the calculation for you, the difference being 3.555 minutes per day.

To try and improve the calculation of the train which allowed for an error of 0.8 seconds per year Dr. Daniels contacted a friend at Cambridge University to ask if they knew of a mathematician interested in watches. He got a response almost immediately and extraordinarily enough the mathematicians name was Professor Daniels. The professor was able to calculate a better ratio of 0.28 seconds per day, which Dr. Daniels was very happy with.

Dr. Daniels used to say to people, ‘when you are on your package tour to Mars you need a watch like this, and when using the telephone for long distance calls you could switch the chronograph into sidereal time to cut your bills by 3.555 minutes per day’.Originally the watch had been referred to as the Daniels squared (2) because of the assistance he received from Professor Henry Daniels but Dr. Daniels did not think this was good enough so named it the ‘Space Travellers’ watch in honour of the American landing on the moon which was the greatest space exploratory journey of the century.

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Books and Publications

The highly anticipated biography of George Daniels, written by acclaimed author, Micheal Clerizo is now available. We have a selection of other books about, and by, Dr. Daniels.

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Produced by Roger W. Smith Ltd, and cased, dialled and finished to Daniels exacting standards and style, the Co-axial Anniversary watch is the final defining statement in British horology by Dr. George Daniels.

The Educational Trust

The George Daniels Educational Trust has been set up to encourage and financially assist apprentices and students, with grants and bursaries for training in all aspects of horology.

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George Daniels, The World's Greatest Watchmaker

T he first part of four sales, ' George Daniels: Visionary , focuses on the work of a man considered the greatest watchmaker in the world, and features a beautifully curated selection of watches and clocks from the Renaissance through to the 20th century. It incldues the finest British and Continental makers in horological history, such as Charles Frodsham, Smith & Sons, Edward East, and Northern Goldsmiths. Early German and English watches featuring astronomical indications round out the complicated pieces by these firms. The centrepiece is George Daniel's 1982 Space Traveller, considered the finest watch ever made.

Among watch collectors and horologists, few names inspire awe quite like that of visionary watchmaker George Daniels CBE.

He was widely regarded as the greatest watchmaker in the world during his lifetime, and famously invented a new watch mechanism, the coaxial escapement, which revolutionised the accuracy of mechanical watches as the first new escapement design for over two centuries. So significant was this advance that Omega began using it in its top-grade watches, and has continued to do so since 1999. This innovation alone has been described as 'the most important horological development for 250 years'. Famously, his mechanical watches were more accurate than quartz watches, with some of them losing less than a second a month.

An 1819 encylopedia of Arts and Sciences suggested that 34 people were required to make a watch, all of which needed to be masters of their varying crafts, the product of serving extensive apprenticeships. George Daniels mastered such a large number of these varying arts however, that he was able to create handmade watches entirely by himself, except for the springs and the glass.

His career as a watchmaker began shortly after he left the British Army in 1947. Beginning as a watch repairer, he was inspired by early masters such as George Margetts, and studied horology at night school until, after a decade’s work, he was able to open his own shop in London.

During this time he developed an interest in the work of Abraham-Louis Breguet, an acclaimed 19th century French watchmaker. He would go on to become the leading expert on Breguet, and even created a replica of Breguet’s famous three-wheeled clock.

Of the 23 pocket watches he made in his lifetime, his 1982 Space Traveller I is considered to be the finest of Daniels’ creations.

He had enormous admiration for the astronauts who successfully landed on the Moon, and created this watch both to commemorate the 1962 landing and to make a watch that would be of theoretical use to astronauts. It’s capable of accurately displaying both solar and sidereal time, that is, time told both by the Earth’s relation to the Sun, and to distant stars.

In its construction he drew on and refined the work of 18th century watchmaker George Margetts to increase the accuracy of his sidereal/solar trains. In the 18th century, to check the accuracy of your watch, it was necessary to use a precision clock, set to a star.

Daniels then enlisted a Cambridge academic to further refine the accuracy of the watch, eventually getting it to a variance of just 0.4 seconds per year. This is the ideal watch for those planning to travel in space, or for any with an appreciation of the ultimate in mechanical precision, and a remarkable feat in the history of watchmaking.

Daniels took great care to pass on his knowledge to future generations of watchmakers. Perhaps the best known is Roger Smith who is a leading independent watchmaker today. Upon his death, Daniels left instruction for the creation of The George Daniels Educational Trust which assists those studying to become watch and clockmakers.

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• Here’s How You Can See George Daniels’s Space Traveller II Watch in Person

The pocket watch by the late modern master will be on display in London for the next three years.

James gurney, james gurney's most recent stories.

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Legendary watchmaker George Daniels ’ Space Traveller II, widely considered to be the finest of the 24 timepieces that Daniels completed in his lifetime, has been put on display at London’s Science Museum . You’ll find it within the Company of Clockmakers collection thanks to a private loan to the museum. It’s notable for many reasons, not least of which is that when it sold at auction in 2017 for £3.2 million (approximately $4.2 million), it set a record for British-made watches that went unbroken until Daniels’ Space Traveller I went for £3.6 million (approximately $4.7 million) this July.

Daniels did not single-handedly save fine watchmaking as some of the more excitable collectors seem to believe, but he did provide both an intellectual framework and a fierce passion that inspired both collectors and watchmakers (F.P. Journe once gave him a watch simply engraved “to my master”). Space Traveller II illustrates the vision that Daniels brought to his watchmaking.

The inspiration for both Space Traveller watches was the 1969 Apollo Moon landing, which is why the dial shows both mean solar time (the time apparent from the Earth’s rotation in relation to the sun, which we read on clocks and sundials) and sidereal time (which corresponds to the Earth’s rotation around the sun). Space Traveller II was made or, at least, started by Daniels for his own use shortly after the first watch was sold in 1982 and was the watch he wore most up until his death in 2011. It features his ’compact chronograph’ mechanism as well as a clutch to switch between solar and sidereal modes.

The movement of George Daniels’ Space Traveller II watch.  Isidora Bojovic

The watch is part of an exhibit about George Daniels in the Clockmakers’ Museum collection (appropriately enough he was Master of the company in 1980 and a winner of its rarely awarded Gold Medal). It’s in good company too, as the museum collection includes some 600 watches, 30 clocks and 15 marine timekeepers, ranging from the 15th century to the present day, including Harrison’s H5.

The Space Traveller II will be on public display for a minimum of three years at the Clockmakers’ Museum, which is free to enter and located on the second floor of the Science Museum .

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• George Daniels

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George Daniels Space Traveller Pocket Watch Sells for US$4.32m

The seminal George Daniels Space Travellers Watch – widely regarded as the English watchmaker’s prime creation – has just sold at Sotheby’s in London for £3.20m, or about US$4.32m, including buyer’s fees.

Going for well above the estimate of £1.2m to £1.8m, the Space Travellers Watch hammered for £2.7m, going to a victorious bidder who was in the room, bidding in person.

It reached that level, a record for a Daniels timepiece, after swift and spirited bidding. Though the bidding started with several prospective buyers, once it hit £1.9m only two were left standing. In the end it was down to an collector based in Asia who was bidding by phone, and the eventual winner in the room who, unusually, was not a recognisable face within the watch auction business.

But by all accounts the Space Travellers Watch will remain in the U.K., so the British isles get to keep its greatest modern day horological creation.

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Watch CBS News

Gold pocket watch found on body of Titanic's richest passenger sells for record $1.46 million

By Aliza Chasan

Edited By Stephen Smith

Updated on: April 29, 2024 / 7:00 AM EDT / CBS News

A pocket watch that belonged to the wealthiest passenger aboard the Titanic was auctioned in England Saturday for $1.46 million (£1.17 million), breaking the record for an object linked to the 1912 disaster, an auction house said this weekend. An American buyer won the bidding war for John Jacob Astor IV's 14-carat gold Waltham pocket watch, shattering the auctioneer's pre-sale estimate of £150,000, according to  Henry Aldridge & Son . 

The watch, engraved with the initials JJA, was found along with Astor's body when his remains were recovered several days after the Titanic sank. He was also found with a diamond ring, gold and diamond cufflinks, 225 pounds in English notes, and $2,440.

"Astor is well known as the richest passenger aboard the R.M.S. Titanic and was thought to be among the richest people in the world at that time, with a net worth of roughly $87 million (equivalent to several billion dollars today,)" the auction house wrote.

Astor was on the Titanic with wife, Madeleine. The business tycoon, who was in his 40s, had married the 18-year-old on Sept. 11, 1911, according to the auction house. The newlyweds took an extended honeymoon in Europe and Egypt while they waited for gossip about their marriage to die down. They were headed back to the U.S. when the Titanic hit an iceberg on April 14, 1912.

According to the auction house, Astor asked if he could join his wife on a lifeboat, mentioning her "delicate condition." After being told he needed to wait until all the women and children were away, Astor reportedly lit a cigarette and tossed his gloves to his wife. He went off to smoke with author Jacques Futrelle, who also died when the Titanic sank. They were among the more than 1,500 who perished. 

Astor's body — and his watch — were recovered by the steamer CS McKay-Bennett on April 22. His wife survived.

"The watch itself was completely restored after being returned to Colonel Astor's family and worn by his son making it a unique part of the Titanic story and one of the most important pieces of horological history relating to the most famous ship in the world," the auction house said.

The sale of the pocket watch comes as other items from the infamous shipwreck have also hit the auction block, most recently a photo taken on April 16, 1912, that apparently shows the iceberg that doomed the ship.

In November, a  rare menu  from the  Titanic 's first-class restaurant  sold at auction along with a pocket watch from another man who died in the 1912 disaster. The menu sold for about about $101,600. The  pocket watch , recovered from Russian immigrant Sinai Kantor, sold for about $118,700. 

Before his death, Astor was a business magnate, real estate developer, investor, writer, and a lieutenant colonel in the Spanish–American War, according to the auction house. He founded the St. Regis hotel in New York City, which still stands today. Astor is also credited with inventing an early form of air conditioning by blowing cold air over the hotel's wall vents

He was the great grandson of John Jacob Astor , a fur trader who died in 1848 as one of the wealthiest men in the U.S., according to the Library of Congress. In their 2023 book " Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune, " Anderson Cooper and co-author historian Katherine Howe described how the family made its fortune. 

Aliza Chasan is a digital producer at 60 Minutes and CBSNews.com. She has previously written for outlets including PIX11 News, The New York Daily News, Inside Edition and DNAinfo. Aliza covers trending news, often focusing on crime and politics.

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Gold pocket watch owned by wealthiest Titanic passenger up for auction

For just $187,000, you could be the proud owner of a pocket watch that belonged to the wealthiest Titanic victim.

The 14-carat gold Waltham timepiece once owned by business magnate John Jacob Astor IV is up for auction this weekend at Henry Aldridge & Son in Britain.

The stunning watch, engraved “JJA” was found when Astor’s body was recovered from the Atlantic Ocean a week after the infamous sinking of the Titanic, which hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York City in 1912.

The starting bid for the haunting piece is £60,000, or roughly $75,000 — but experts expect the watch to go for up to £150,000 ($187,320).

Astor, who earned a reputation as a real estate mogul after building the Astoria Hotel and later the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, had helped his pregnant teenage wife onto a lifeboat before stepping back onto the doomed liner to wait for men to be called, according to the auction house.

The 47-year-old was last seen smoking a cigarette with author Jacques Futrelle, who also died in the tragedy.

“Astor is well known as the richest passenger aboard the  R.M.S. Titanic  and was thought to be among the richest people in the world at that time, with a net worth of roughly $87 million (equivalent to several billion dollars today),” according to Henry Aldridge & Son.

The pocket watch was one of the personal objects found on Astor’s body that helped rescuers identify him, as well as the initials sewn on the lapel of his jacket.

The first-class passenger was also wearing a gold watch, gold and diamond cufflinks and a diamond ring with three stones. Astor’s pockets were also lined with $2,720 in cash and several pieces of gold, silver and franc.

“The watch itself was completely restored after being returned to Mr. Astor’s family and worn by his son, making it a unique part of the Titanic story and one of the most important pieces of horological history relating to the most famous ship in the world,” Aldridge said.

Before hitting the auction block, the pocket watch had been featured at numerous museums, including the Mariners Museum in New York, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and the National Geographic Exhibition in DC.

The sale of the pocket watch comes as other items from the infamous shipwreck have gone up for auction, including a letter from a lucky Titanic survivor who described that the liner nearly collided with another ship just one day into its doomed journey.

Earlier this year, the controversial door from James Cameron’s “Titanic” was officially sold at the Treasures From Planet Hollywood auction last week for a whopping $718,750.

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