The co-axial escapement?generally regarded one of the most significant contributions to mechanical horology in the past two centuries?will soon celebrate its 20th anniversary as Omega?s flagship technology. Omega presently equips nearly all of their watches with the co-axial escapement, and without it Omega may have never developed their ambitious Master Chronometer program.
An Omega Master Chronometer must meet ultra-high performance criteria, thus trouncing COSC specifications, but Omega?s true opponent in the battle for mechanical supremacy is Rolex?s Superlative Chronometer program. Inside the antiseptic, bright white factories of Rolex and Omega you?ll find ranks of lab-coated, loupe-eye?d technicians toiling away in an escalating horological arms race. Rolex has typically held the technical and marketing advantage, but the co-axial escapement has empowered Omega to challenge The Crown?s long-standing dominion as the preeminent mass-producer of luxury watches. Crucially, having secured the patent for the co-axial, only Omega can deploy it. You Turned Down The Beatles"
George Daniels (image via Danielstrust.org)
The inventor of the co-axial escapement, George Daniels (1926-2011), has been repeatedly honored as the most important watchmaker since Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823). In 1974, Daniels unveiled his masterpiece, the co-axial escapement. Foreshadowing a wide-sweeping inability for people to understand his achievement, it took Daniels a full six years to...