English watchmaking has a proud history of military timepieces – think marine chronometers and WWWs – so when Peter Speake-Marin presented his take on an entry level, sporty timepiece last year with the Spirit Pioneer, it was a nod to a long history. With a retail price of CHF9800, the limited edition of 68 pieces swiftly sold out.

The Spirit Mark 2 is 42 mm in diameter, while the Spirit Pioneer was 38 mm. This is an important improvement as the earlier Spirit Pioneer seemed a big small relative to its thickness (which was the case for the all of the first generation Piccadilly watches). These new case proportions of wider and slimmer are similar to what Peter has done for the rest of his watches like the enamel dial Resilience.

And the Spirit Mark 2 has a useful five day power reserve, thanks to the Technotime TT738 movement inside; its predecessor had an ETA calibre with an approximately two day power reserve.

Also notable is the one piece dial of the Spirit Mark 2. A dial mould is created, after which layers of black lacquer and white Super-Luminova are applied. Once the entire thing is set, the dial is removed as a single piece, and then attached to a dial plate.

The case back is solid and engraved with the Speake-Marin topping tool logo. And the price will be approximately CHF11,000.

Top of the tables was the double escapement “space traveller’s” pocket watch with sidereal, mean solar time and chronograph which hammered for GBP1.33 million (about USD2.12 million). And the Daniels Millennium wristwatches sold for between GBP85,000 to GBP145,000, while the tourbillon with chronograph wristwatch hammered for GBP385,250.

Especially notable amongst the non-Daniels brand timepieces were the wristwatches that Daniels modified to include his co-axial escapement. The Rolex Datejust went for GBP21,250, an Urban Jurgensen chronograph with an El Primero movement sold for GBP61,250, and the Omega Co-Axial limited edition serial number 000/999 hammered for GBP49,250.

Though these prices are exceptional, they come right after Mr Daniels passing when awareness of his work is high. Such values will only be maintained if Mr Daniels continues to be remembered as one of the greatest watchmakers of the 20th century. Roger Smith is doing his part, and so is Omega, but that is not a certainty. There are plenty of great watchmaking talents who do not receive their share of recognition, the late Derek Pratt for example. See the full list of results on the Sotheby’s webpage.