# Smiths Braille Watch



## winnei (Oct 6, 2008)

Hi all,

Rummaging around at a car boot sale this morning I picked up what appears to be a Smiths Braille watch.It has a white ceramic or enamel dial with arabic numerals inside the raised braille dots, the crystal is hinged at the 12 o'clock position.

The only markings on the dial are Smiths (with a capital S at either end), and at the 6 o'clock position English movement Swiss Dial.

I have searched on the forum but couldn't find anything and also nothing when I looked at the Smiths history.

Any info much appreciated.

Thanks,

Neil.


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## tall_tim (Jul 29, 2009)

winnei said:


> Hi all,
> 
> Rummaging around at a car boot sale this morning I picked up what appears to be a Smiths Braille watch.It has a white ceramic or enamel dial with arabic numerals inside the raised braille dots, the crystal is hinged at the 12 o'clock position.
> 
> ...


Hi, I don't know anything about the watch, but am interested to know how the wearer would read the braille without knocking the hands? Have you any photo's?


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## winnei (Oct 6, 2008)

tall_tim said:


> winnei said:
> 
> 
> > Hi all,
> ...


The watch has short hour and minute hands and the braille dots are well to the outside of this.It has double raised dots at the 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock positions with single dots at the others.I will take some photos.


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## Julian Latham (Jul 25, 2005)

I picked one up last week. Hands are quite heavy gauge.










Borrowed photo - but identical to mine, which is in for service.


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## winnei (Oct 6, 2008)

Julian Latham said:


> I picked one up last week. Hands are quite heavy gauge.


That is identical to mine,any ideas on when they were manufactured?


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## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

I had one of these in my sample case when I worked for SMITHS Clocks. The hands are indeed heavy gauge metal to withstand being fingered, and ISTR they were "peened" onto the centreshafts so that they wouldn't move round. The crystal is hinged opposite the tab and lifts up out of the way to allow the unsighted person to "read" by touch. :yes:

The dial design was immediate post war, but they were certainly still in production in limited runs up till about 1965 maybe beyond. I remember being told there was no point in cosmetically updating something that a)( worked well enough and B)( sold in limited numbers to a niche market. I sold a few now and then to LA Jewellers who were maybe 150 yards from the old Blind School in Edinburgh, but nobody else was ever interested in them. 

Good piece of functional design mind you, could be used by sighted, partially sighted (chunky hands) and unsighted people (Braille markings) equally well. Note though, strictly speaking it's not Braille, the numbers in Braille are much too complex to fit onto a watch dial, so these are (I suppose) Braille batons. :yes:

There are/is Russian equivalent watches from Chaika I think, occasionally see them on the bay, but they have a solid metal dial cover and cant be easily read by sighted folks.


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## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

I had one of these in my sample case when I worked for SMITHS Clocks. The hands are indeed heavy gauge metal to withstand being fingered, and ISTR they were "peened" onto the centreshafts so that they wouldn't move round. The crystal is hinged opposite the tab and lifts up out of the way to allow the unsighted person to "read" by touch. :yes:

The dial design was immediate post war, but they were certainly still in production in limited runs up till about 1965 maybe beyond. I remember being told there was no point in cosmetically updating something that a.)( worked well enough and b.)( sold in limited numbers to a niche market. I sold a few now and then to LA Jewellers who were maybe 150 yards from the old Blind School in Edinburgh, but nobody else was ever interested in them. 

Good piece of functional design mind you, could be used by sighted, partially sighted (chunky hands) and unsighted people (Braille markings) equally well. Note though, strictly speaking it's not Braille, the numbers in Braille are much too complex to fit onto a watch dial, so these are (I suppose) Braille batons. :yes:

There are/is Russian equivalent watches from Chaika I think, occasionally see them on the bay, but they have a solid metal dial cover and cant be easily read by sighted folks.


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## winnei (Oct 6, 2008)

mel said:


> I had one of these in my sample case when I worked for SMITHS Clocks. The hands are indeed heavy gauge metal to withstand being fingered, and ISTR they were "peened" onto the centreshafts so that they wouldn't move round. The crystal is hinged opposite the tab and lifts up out of the way to allow the unsighted person to "read" by touch. :yes:
> 
> The dial design was immediate post war, but they were certainly still in production in limited runs up till about 1965 maybe beyond. I remember being told there was no point in cosmetically updating something that a.)( worked well enough and b.)( sold in limited numbers to a niche market. I sold a few now and then to LA Jewellers who were maybe 150 yards from the old Blind School in Edinburgh, but nobody else was ever interested in them.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the info, just popped the back off to have a look at the movement, mine has a 15-jewel movement.It is ticking away nicely alongside my other Smiths, an Astral and an Empire.


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## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

No probs Winnei - of course they don't get made much at all now, the niche has been filled by "talking watches" - not sure if anyone produces a Braille type watch at all now, the market would be even smaller, restricted to unsighted deaf people.

I have seen a Braille clock at the old Blind School, the numbers are the letters "a" thru to "j" for 1 to 11 and a "T" at the twelve, AFAIK in Braille script you place a "special" character before and after numbers and use something the same system, "a"=1 and so on.


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## Shangas (Jan 27, 2008)

Hi guys,

My "area of expertise" (put nothing into that, I barely have any!) is mechanical pocket watches, but I noticed this thread and it caught my attention because of the mention of braille.

*Tall Tim asked:*

Hi, I don't know anything about the watch, but am interested to know how the wearer would read the braille without knocking the hands?

I have a number of blind friends. These days, they have talking-watches. You press a button and the watch reads out the time (similar, I guess to a minute repeater). These watches, as the OP noted, are read by opening the crystal & bezel.

One of my friends still has a watch like this (It was a present from his wife, I believe). when he tells the time, he opens the crystal & bezel and then he just simply presses his finger/s lightly onto the dial. This allows him to feel the numbers and the positions of the hands, without disturbing anything. Once he knows the time, he closes the crystal again.


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## whatsthetime (Dec 26, 2011)

hi all,

i know this is an old link but i was looking for advice concerning the smiths braille watch mentioned here.

i have one of these watches in absolutely pristine condition apart from one problem which i hope someone like mel might be able to offer a course of action.

the watch winds sets and works well but i have noticed that the hour and minute hands are not aligned correctly and when i wear the watch the hour hand is a little loose and consequently any sharp movement makes it jump around.

the minute hand is solid and keeps time as it should.

can i remove the minute hand and examine the hour hand as i remember mel stating they were in a fixed position?

will i have to ask a watch repairer to fix this and will he have the equipment needed to remove the minute hand or dare i try it myself?

any help would be greatly appreciated as i would like to wear this watch even though i am a fully sighted person (i just like the style of it).

please help!


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