If it wasn’t for the beautiful coastline that appeared as we drove up the Mountain Course, or the evidence of the island’s most famous race, the legendary and sometimes-fatal Isle of Man TT, found in the form of warning signs at every narrow bend, it would have been easy to think we were driving towards La Vallée de Joux. The road that leads to Roger W. Smith's remote workshop is not so different from the one that leads to Philippe Dufour’s. It is solitary, cutting through fields that stretch as far as the eye can see, and appears to be going in the direction opposite civilization. But while the Swiss can blame tradition for their isolation, this Brit's exile appears to be self-imposed.