# Smith's 'empire' - Where Do They Stand?



## Will Fly (Apr 10, 2012)

A week or two ago, I popped into an antiques fair in my local village hall. One of the stalls had a Smith's watch for sale for Â£8. I offered the stallholder Â£5 on the spur of the moment - the watch had some dings on the case but wound and ticked OK - and got it for that price.

I checked the watch on eBay and found other watches of the same vintage for sale. What was interesting were the various descriptions of the casing. One seller claimed that the case was 9ct gilt - others said it was brass - others were indeterminate. To me, the casing (dinged on the bezel), although machine turned on the case back and fairly clean, seemed thin and lightweight. So, when I sold it on eBay - minimum bid Â£5.99 - I described it as 'gold-tone' and made no claims for gilding or anything else. I was pleasantly surprised to realise over Â£20 on the watch, a profit of Â£15 - but I don't know why!

I'd be interested to hear opinions on the casing. The movement was quite clearly marked '0 jewels' and 'unadjusted' - but it kept perfect time over a 7-day trial - so, although 'cheap as chips, was quite a decent little watch. I'm almost sorry to have made a profit on it!

:thumbup:


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## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

Smiths did indeed make some very nice Gold watches, and some very fine 15 jewel upwards movements, Gold Smiths would be very unlikely to have the standard unjewelled movement fitted, a "Goldie" would be in a properly Hallmarked case which can be traced and dated by the Hallmark, and maybe a Makers name such as Dennison, plus it would normally have one of the Cheltenham or similar made hi-grade jewelled movements. Often signed as "Astral".

The Empire range often used no or 1 jewel movements, and were robust standard items. Smiths were a force to be reckoned with, and were one of the few High Volume producers worldwide that produced everything in house (except for hairspring balance assemblies). That included everything from POS displays through to printing, boxes, dials, movements and so on.

TSA

:weed:


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## Will Fly (Apr 10, 2012)

Thanks for the info, Mel - I'm just back from Devon so have only just read your very useful reply. I have my grandfather's British Rail retirement Smith's wristwatch in a 9ct gold case - keeps lovely time after nearly 50 years!


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