# Smiths



## bridgeman (Dec 9, 2008)

Acquired this Smiths a few weeks ago. Clean,nicely aged and a good size too at 40 x 35mm.

Manual wind keeping almost perfect time. So good thought somebody had put a quartx movement inside-especially when after much trying,beating ,heating and swearing could not get back off to look-screw back at that.

Anyway -yesterday back off and yes it will screw back on before anybody asks. Perhaps a few new marks on back case .

Didnot know what to expect but astounded. Clean as a whistle with a 15 jewel movement. Dennison aquatite case (maybe thats the reason wouldnt come off) and a stunning movement that I didnot know existed.

Have a look.



















more to follow


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## bridgeman (Dec 9, 2008)

here it is ,18 drilled lugs some brassing but adds to charm.








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Over 24 hours less than 10 seconds out with a quartz on the timing.

Thats what we used to build!!!!

Any info appreciated especially date


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## The Prefect (Dec 7, 2011)

Looks great. Any idea how old?


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## woody77 (Jun 19, 2011)

hi well i could not get that back case off well done. it did always keep time very well,a very nice movement in side you may not of got it off me i new that it was so nice.all the best woody77.


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## Julian Latham (Jul 25, 2005)

I have several 'Made in England' Smiths, including an Astral Diver, all but one keep excellent time.

*Diver and another Astral ...*










*Astral with stainless steel case & hacking seconds movement - as used in military models ...*










This chap specialises in 'Made in England' Smiths watches.


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## bridgeman (Dec 9, 2008)

Fantastic link Julian ,thanks.

Yes Woody this was yours.

Date wise looking at the link above -latest I would guess 1970? with larger size that it is looks early 60s?


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## aroma (Dec 11, 2009)

A lovely find and to think that we used to make such things in the UK. The Aquatite was introduced in the 1950s and was so good that the military used it to re-case some of the old 6B/159s. The Aquatite eventually morphed into the lovely Dennison screwback gold cases used on the Omega Seamasters and Constellations of the 1960s.

Cheers


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## aroma (Dec 11, 2009)

I collect Dennison cased watches and am currently compiling a database of Dennison cases as there is so little info out there - so far have gleaned info from around 250 examples and a picture is building. It's like a jigsaw really and every piece helps to increase the knowledge. If you don't mind, could you pm me with the movement serial number (it is too difficult to see this from the photos) as this will help with dating the development of the Aquatite.

Many thanks in advance

Andrew


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## bridgeman (Dec 9, 2008)

Info received dates the watch to probably 1954 -part of the original Everest range as the watch dial is not shockproof. The crown on mine is later steel should be squarer in profile and chromed-but there again you cant have it all!


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## Littlelegs (Dec 4, 2011)

Nice, I've a smiths imperial and a smiths pocket watch. Both keep brilliant time. I can see some more coming at some point. That one looks great. :thumbsup:


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## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

A lot of the High end SMITHS [production] were made in a rudimentary clean room (some positive air pressure intended to keep dust out) at the Cheltenham plant in the company's hey day - 27 factories throughout the UK and many, many thousands of employees, a *MAJOR* UK employer. Standard pieces were mainly made in Wales, google on Anglo-Celtic Watches for a fuller history, some good reading there in the "Tic-Toc" pages. :yes:

Also, SMITHS were one of the very few (maybe four) companies worldwide who produced everything (except balance wheels and hairsprings) "in-house", and that included printing their own literature, boxes, display stands, dials, many cases, clocks, watches, timers and the likes.

But when the company hit problems on the horological side due to the Quartz revolution, the then government supported the British Car industry (whatever happened to that) rather than help SMITHS to re-tool and stay in the game - sigh! We had a world class company whose only downside was that they couldn't put "Switzerland" on the dial.

(AFAIK, the "four worldwides" who made/make in-house - Rolex, Timex, Smiths, and Seiko - anyone add to that? apart from Chinasian stuff? )


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## Thewatchbloke (Feb 25, 2011)

mel said:


> (AFAIK, the "four worldwides" who made/make in-house - Rolex, Timex, Smiths, and Seiko - anyone add to that? apart from Chinasian stuff? )


Depends on the definition of worldwide I suppose. I would include Poljot. Sold throughout the world under it's own name and Raketa (mostly in communist or communist supported countries) and of course Sekonda in democratic countries.


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## Thewatchbloke (Feb 25, 2011)

Julian Latham said:


> I have several 'Made in England' Smiths, including an Astral Diver, all but one keep excellent time.
> 
> *Diver and another Astral ...*


That Astral diver is so 62mas like it's unreal! The case shape, the bezel and insert, the crown, even the seconds hand is reminiscent of Seiko's 6217. Which came first, the Smiths? If so then I can see where Seiko got their inspiration.


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## trim (Sep 23, 2010)

mel said:


> Also, SMITHS were one of the very few (maybe four) companies worldwide who produced everything (except balance wheels and hairsprings) "in-house", and that included printing their own literature, boxes, display stands, dials, many cases, clocks, watches, timers and the likes.


Add to your list - Roamer, who made everything in house. Movements, cases, dials, crystals, screws, jewels, all movement parts including the balance wheels - not sure about hairsprings, machinery and tooling, even the packing boxes. It was a source of great pride for them.


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## Chascomm (Sep 9, 2005)

trim said:


> mel said:
> 
> 
> > Also, SMITHS were one of the very few (maybe four) companies worldwide who produced everything (except balance wheels and hairsprings) "in-house", and that included printing their own literature, boxes, display stands, dials, many cases, clocks, watches, timers and the likes.
> ...


The Chaika watch factory in Uglich, Russia, which closed down a couple of years ago, used to make the entire watch in-house including springs and jewels. Their movements were their own designs too. Originally the factory had been a jewel-cutting factory until 1953.

Complete vertical integration was not rare in the Soviet watch industry. Neither was it in China from the 1950s until the 1990s. So in the late 1970s there may have been several dozens of watch manufacturers around the world making the entire watch in-house. Even today I would guess that HMT in India probably don't need to outsource much (if anything).


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## JL Smout (Dec 8, 2011)

Beautiful DeLuxe. Here's a photograph of my long gone, still lamented 1966 Smiths Astral. I loved it, and then for some reason I stupidly sold it. I still don't know what possessed me:




























If I could have just one of the watches I sold back, it would be this one.


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