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George Daniels 制表大师乔治丹尼尔斯 George Daniels, master watchmaker, died onOctober 21st, aged 85 近250年来最伟大的制表师乔治丹尼尔斯于10月21日去世，享年85岁。 A SCHOOLBOY once asked George Daniels whathe had at the end of the chain that led to hispocket. A silly question, really. But it was worthasking, because what Mr Daniels pulled out,carefully, was what he called his Space Traveller s Watch. It gave mean solar time, meansidereal time, equation of time, and could chart the phases of the moon. Mr Daniels liked tosay it would be useful for trips to Mars. He had surmised almost the same when, at five orsix, he had first prised open with a fairly blunt breadknife the back of an old watch he hadfound at home, and seen the centre of the universe inside. 一名男学生曾经问乔治丹尼尔斯，他那根伸进衣袋的链子末端有什么。多么愚蠢的问题。但是值得一答。因为丹尼尔斯小心翼翼从口袋里拿出来的表被他称为宇宙旅行者之表。表盘上不仅能显示平太阳时，还能显示平恒星时、时差，记录月相。丹尼尔斯说，去火星旅行的时候这款表就能大显身手。其实在五六岁的时候他就想到这一点了。那是他第一次用钝了的面包刀剖开家里的一块旧表，看见了宇宙的核心。 He had never imagined then that he would make the universe by hand. But he did.Every component of his Space Traveller s Watchas of the 36 other watches he made, eachunique, over his 42 working yearswas produced from scratch. He made the screws, thesprings and the levers, the pallets and gears, the hands and the plain, often numberlessdials. He also made the tools that made them, except for the lathes and turning engines. Noone else had ever learned the dozens of necessary skills. But after years of teaching himselfhorology from clocks bought for a bob or two at jumble sales, or comrades broken watchesin the army, or the wonderful Breguet and old English timepieces he went on to restore forcollectors, he had begun to think, why not? | 
