# Smiths Everest



## antony (Dec 28, 2007)

I saw a Smiths Everest on Ebay a couple of weeks ago, The everest was for me one of the better more wearable

gents wristwatches, being that it had a resonably well made case on them, screw back, water resistant crown (

winder ) & the glass has been glued in on these models.










When i saw one on for sale i jumped at the chance, so i sat there pushing my bids up & up till i got it.

The watch , well project as i would call it, as all there was was the case dial & part of the movement.










Now with all these things, that i buy i had a plan, the plan being , i had a complete movement that i had serviced

& cleaned , just in case , well just in case i ever needed one .

Anyway the movement was a perfect fit, as with the Smiths every thing is very interchangeable.










Hands were a bit more of a problem as i did`nt have any, looking through the internet, i tried a couple of different style hands untill i found the watch in a book,but i only had gilt coloured hands, so in the end i got a set of 1950`s gilt hands took out the lume blackened the

& relumed them with a pale green which looked more in keeping with the watch.










I found a milatary cuff type strap, which i always like, & very smart looking watch to wear i think.

For the Smiths fans its a model A404 approx 1962, the year i was born.


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## stradacab (Nov 15, 2006)

Great on that strap, nice save. A new lease of life for a fab piece.


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## harryblakes7 (Oct 1, 2010)

Lovely job and great looking strap...............

Too be honest i prefer the gold daulphine hands but each to their own


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## Thomasr (Oct 11, 2011)

note this is the later model, these got rid of the screws around the balance and the Breguet Overcoil, but had beat adjustment, from a repairers point of view the best advance of the 20th century


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## AVO (Nov 18, 2012)

What you have ended up with looks quite like the Smiths Deluxe that Sir Edmund Hillary wore on Everest. Not exactly the same, but fairly close. Nice job!


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## ombray (Feb 14, 2014)

Nicely brought back to life, I like it!


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## MerlinShepherd (Sep 18, 2011)

Excellent work, bring it back from project land. Looks lovely although I also possibly prefer the gold daulphine hands. However, that's a watch I would be delighted to wear!


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## antony (Dec 28, 2007)

Thanks all for the posts, i`m happy with it.

I have Delux watch as featured in the advert .










Its one i restored a while back, it has a two tone dial , gilt numbers & hands.

i have a number of smiths watches, i have been collecting the since a friend gave me a case for a Smiths imperial , just the case.

One i had done that one i got carried away.

I have just finished one of the streamline watches, although why i don`t know , as it has no value at all.


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## aroma (Dec 11, 2009)

The Smiths A404 is probably one of the more iconic of Smiths watches - basic, unassuming and yet very capable as the Hunt Everest expedition of 1953 found out. I had mine renovated as well - full mechanical rebuild by James Merrens, the case re-chromed but the dial and handset left original.

Here are the before and after photos (apologies for the different colour casts):










In around 1955, Smiths started making the case themselves - the original Dennison Aquatite cases being too expensive. You can tell the difference immediately as the Smiths version has 16mm lugs whilst the Dennison Aquatite case has 18mm lugs.

Shockproofing was introduced around 1958 so all the original Dennison cased A404s were non-shockproofed - including Edmund Hillary's Everest one, so that says something about the build quality.

Cheers


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## antony (Dec 28, 2007)

Very nice piece, I have had a couple of cases rechromed over the years ' so expensive, unless its absolutly necessary I just wait till another case turns up.

Thanks for the info about the case's.

Tony.


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