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Smiths Watches....

2K views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  Pob 
#1 ·
....did they ever make a good one?

In my experience they have all been rubbish, but I would like one just to have an example of a british made watch.

Is it just a case of having the best of a bad bunch.... and why are they so damned expensive?
 
#2 ·
They were good enough to supply the military WWW and these watches are highly sought after, I'd have one in a flash if the price was right. :yes:

There were other models of course and they varied greatly in spec , hut they all did a good enough job I think.

regards

beach bum
 
#5 ·
....did they ever make a good one?
What do you mean by a good one, one that told time with reasonable accuracy for the price it cost, or a "posh" watch?

It depends on your criterion, in my opinion, they were all good. As was the quality control.

My self control amazes me at times. FFS. :rolleyes:
 
#6 ·
look for the 17j 'made in england' on the dial ones and you won't be disappointed.

The Empire 5 jewel ones were made in Wales after a tie in with Ingersoll and the quality is different. That said the empire ones are still interesting
 
#7 ·
What's not to like with something like this? Acquired very reasonably (on here!), runs perfectly, keeps good time and matches any other gold watch of the period for looks (IMO).

Smithscroc3_zpsc3d081a3.jpg


The ones with genuine military provenance are more expensive, and the ones that command silly money are the ones closest in style and date to the one worn by Hillary. Almost impossible to find an exact match, but even fairly knackered close approaches fetch around £1k!

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#9 ·
Ah, that's where I've been going wrong then. Mine have all been Empires. :)

I like the look of that Astral, AVO. :)

People are asking ridiculous prices for these things though, compared to similar Swiss watches. I think it'll need a bit more saving before I can get one of the good ones.
 
#10 ·
Remember also that SMITHS were very highly regarded as makers who produced watches to thecsame rigorous standards as many a Swiss maker. Smiths had the first positive pressure cleanroom outside of the cantons built at Cheltenham to assemble the high end pieces. They were the largest producer of watches, clocks and timeswitches, car instrumentation and more in Britain. Only SMITHS and Rolex at the time produced entirely in house from start to finish, although Smiffy went even further. The only thing not produced in house were balance and hairspring, even packaging, printing of warranties and all the publicity materials, dials, cases, hands, crowns, were in house products, the lot!

The clocks division produced 30 hour movements, eight day movements, chiming movements, car clocks, electric clocks, wall clocks and slave master systems. The quartz revolution hit and an ostrich mentality killed the clocks and watches division off, plus the then Uk guvmint decided bailing out the car industry was a better choice - Chinese cars anyone?
 
G
#12 ·
Not so, if you shop around on ebay you can find one for a reasonable price (Usually the gold plated ones) They go for between £80 - £200 from what I have seen depending on the condition. Some go for higher but they might have been serviced so I guess you have to include that in the cost as you would with any vintage watch.

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