something quintessentially English for this englishmans collection

the title of this post may leave a lot of you puzzled as nothing much seems to have come out of england since the days of the pocketwatch, but you would be wrong and so was i.

the other day i was browsing the place i buy most of my watches, looking for anything from 1964 which attracted my attention, when i saw a Smith's watch for sale. yep, thats right, the company known for making cheap motor vehicle instruments. since the 1930's(?) they have also owned the Jaeger instrument makers which went into more upmarket cars.

the watch in question was a Smiths Everest 19 jewel handwind in a 9ct gold case hallmarked London 1964. i am aware that Smiths made watches for the military both during and after WW2 as i owned one, but always considered them fairly low end so i googled the company and did a bit of research. to my surprise it turns out that Smiths made pretty good watches with a varying number of jewels, handwind and towards the end, automatics. they finally stopped making wristwatches in 1970. there is a further connection, albeit very tenuous, to JLC as Robert Lenoir, technical director for Smiths had previously worked for le Coultre and 'some' design features in 'some' of the models can be compared to JLC's of an earlier period. further investigation revealed that the 19 jewel variant was the highest quality of handwind movement they made and i would probably compare it to Omega and Longines (or even better) of the same era. that is just my opinion, but i've seen a lot of omegas and have several to compare it too.

the name Everest came into being in 1953 when some members of the team that conquered Everest were wearing Smith's watches. other members of the team were also wearing Rolex's and they also bought out an Everest model, who can blame them.

as all of the research was done i took a closer look at the watch online. the case looked ok, the dial looked good and original, the plexi was scratched, but the movement looked very good with a screwed balance, not freesprung as i understand it, but certainly better quality than many escapements of the time. i really am no expert in the technical side, but liked what i saw so bid and won, paying a fraction more than i expected, but, as mrsnak has said in his Tissot post, not much more than the cost of servicing a Rolex and probably less.

the watch arrived today in the biggest roll of bubblewrap i've ever seen in my life and after what felt like a week of playing pass the parcel i finally got to the nitty gritty. immediate impressions were good. the 32mm case was in better condition than i expected, but the plexi was in dire need of some polywatching.

before i did anything else i chucked away the old and badly worn strap, got the cape cod cloth on the case which has made a huge difference and got the polywatch and lots of elbow grease onto the plexi. the result on that was satisfactory although i may well replace it when i get it serviced. i also had a good look at the movement which shows absolutely no sign of tarnish. i dont know the technicalities of this, but the balance has a huge number of screws in it which i can only assume is good.

i wound the watch and it started ticking away nicely at 18000bph. i love the sound of a low beat movement beating steadily away. its been on my wrist ever since and is keeping perfect time. now i'll let some pics do the talking.

the whole watch. very thin and original looking crown. the plexi is certainly good enough for daily use. 

the caseback has never been engraved which is good as a lot of Smiths watches would have been used as presentation pieces by british companies.

nice clean crisp hallmarks for 1964. case made by Smiths clocks and watches (SCW).

the two tone dial is really quite nice with applied gold numerals and markers on the lighter outer part of the dial and an inner minute track which is at the edge of the slightly darker centre.

the gold hour hand only reaches to the edge of the minute track and is flat whilst the gold minute and second hands are curved at the ends to follow the curve of the dial. the second hand is especially nice with the red diamond just before the tip, a touch which is entirely unnessesary, but does make it easily visible. at the bottom, the dial proudly displays the rarely seen 'MADE IN ENGLAND'.

i havent seen many english wristwatch movements and would describe this as a 3/4 plate style with only the balance visible. its been finished with the frosted effect seen on most english pocketwatches and modern independents.

the obligatory wristshot. even though i've been wearing bigger watches recently, it doesnt feel small. it only takes a 16mm strap although i managed to squeeze a 17mm Omega strap into the lugs. i had it lying around and waste not want not is my motto. the thin strap is the only thing that gives the impression of smallness.

my overall impressions on day one are excellent. Smiths watches are not easy to find in good condition so i am pleased with this one. what better for an englishman to own than an english watch from the year he was born

enjoy

Graham