Takk takk 
Her er det opprinnelige 60466E inhouse-verket:
A Very Brief History of Smiths
Smiths, the company, can trace its roots back to 1851 and boasted a long and diverse history, the whole of which is beyond the scope of this review. Concentrating on Cheltenham itself, the original factory dates back to the latter part of 1939 with production of aviation clocks. As a slight aside, not long after I had become aware of Smiths watches early on in my interest in timepieces, I had heard more than once that ‘some of the movements were actually Le Coultre’ or ‘that movement was designed by Le Coultre’. What is certain is that literally just prior to the Second World War, Smiths acquired the dies and engineering information necessary to manufacture aviation clocks which had up until then, been supplied by Le Coultre. Thus, aviation clocks made to a design by Le Coultre were, by 1940 being manufactured in the newly built factory at Bishop’s Cleeve (factory CH1). In later decades and in the case of wristwatches however, any relationship with Le Coultre extended only to certain design aspects/influences and the fact that Smiths took on an ex Le Coultre employee as a director. The watch factory also employed ten or so Swiss nationals who were fully trained and highly skilled watchmakers. In those days, manufacture meant manufacture with, for example, hairsprings being manufactured onsite (or more precisely, by a company Smiths had set up in a converted Grange a few hundred yards to the north of the main factory). Interestingly enough, I recently met an elderly lady who was in fact in charge of the workforce at the hairspring factory at the Grange for a time; though we didn’t have the opportunity to talk in detail about her days with ‘British Precision Springs’, I could tell from what she was saying that she looked back on that era with great affection.
As the factory site was developed and expanded during the Second World War, then production of 8 day aircraft clocks was undertaken in the second factory (CH2) along with watches. Mainstream sales to the civilian market commenced around 1947. What of course we mustn’t forget is that the product offerings from Smiths covered an increasingly wide spectrum as time progressed. Thus, we can include automatic pilot units, RPM Indicators, Air Speed Indicators, fuel gauges, head up displays, autoland systems amongst others. Most of the aforementioned were produced at the same time as a wide range of wristwatches for public consumption and from the same (ever expanding) site at Bishop’s Cleeve. In the past, I had only ever considered Revue Thommen as a company which produced wristwatches as well as aircraft instrumentation; however, on my doorstep was factory which between 1947 and 1971 produced a wide range of wristwatches, some of them of a very high quality.
In terms of wristwatches, then from 1947 onwards Smiths produced catalogues on a yearly basis and the highest grades of the range were produced at the Cheltenham factory. A small range of gents and ladies calibres were produced onsite with a varying jewel count; one series of automatic was available by the late 1950s with heavy design influences from IWC. Small seconds, indirect centre seconds and date options were available.
The Horological Journal of September 1965 contains an article describing the watch manufacturing operation at Bishop’s Cleeve. In addition to mentioning the manufacturing tolerances adhered to, reference is made to the timing of movements; I find it fascinating that the Smiths movements of the mid 1960s were as a matter of course timed and adjusted for either 8 or 12 days in three positions. I would not know which other mainstream manufacturers undertook such timing for all its production. It is stated also that the automatic calibre was assembled totally by hand, likewise stopwatch calibres. Even then, the handwind calibres were assembled in the main by hand with final positioning of sub assemblies assisted by vacuum fixtures and air tools. The overall picture is of a local workforce involved in the careful manufacture of a high quality product with quality control taking place at all stages. If I had known such a long time ago I would most certainly have held Smiths in higher esteem than perhaps I did. All after sales service was carried out at Bishop’s Cleeve too; repaired movements being timed for six days in three positions.
Denne har også safir. 36mm har pleksi. Men egentlig greit på en beater, slipper å polere hele tiden.Gratulerer!
Sannsynligvis ja, siden begge er fra GB og de lagde flyinstrumenter.Fin kokke! Laget Smiths mer enn klokker? Jeg har en 1960 Norton Dominator motorsykkel. Den har Smiths speedometer
Best med dagslys, kan åpne den i morgen. Men det er bare en ETA 2801. Her er et bilde fra nett:
Her er det opprinnelige 60466E inhouse-verket:
Haha, har visst det.Gratulerer @Tore! En riktig så flott klokke! Du er blitt en av Smiths venner?!
Ikke akkurat denne modellen, men kassen er nok ganske lik. Den hadde small seconds og lys skive. Nå hører det med til historien at Smiths i dag er noe helt annet enn de originale som opphørte å eksistere i 1979. Det er Eddie Platts (Timefactors) som produserer de nå. Om han har kjøpt rettigheter eller navnet er frigitt vet jeg ikke, men han har i utgangspunktet ingenting med opprinnelige Smiths å gjøre, så sånn sett kan det regnes som en homage, men da av noe som ikke har vært produsert på over 45 år. Jeg kan ikke nok om de andre modellene han produserer, men han tar seg nok noen friheter vil jeg tro. Denne er derimot laget så tro mot originalen som mulig i 36mm-utgaven, mens min avviker 3 mm på str, 2 mm på reimbredde + løse baretter og safirglass. Her er litt mer copy paste om opprinnelige Smiths:
A Very Brief History of Smiths
Smiths, the company, can trace its roots back to 1851 and boasted a long and diverse history, the whole of which is beyond the scope of this review. Concentrating on Cheltenham itself, the original factory dates back to the latter part of 1939 with production of aviation clocks. As a slight aside, not long after I had become aware of Smiths watches early on in my interest in timepieces, I had heard more than once that ‘some of the movements were actually Le Coultre’ or ‘that movement was designed by Le Coultre’. What is certain is that literally just prior to the Second World War, Smiths acquired the dies and engineering information necessary to manufacture aviation clocks which had up until then, been supplied by Le Coultre. Thus, aviation clocks made to a design by Le Coultre were, by 1940 being manufactured in the newly built factory at Bishop’s Cleeve (factory CH1). In later decades and in the case of wristwatches however, any relationship with Le Coultre extended only to certain design aspects/influences and the fact that Smiths took on an ex Le Coultre employee as a director. The watch factory also employed ten or so Swiss nationals who were fully trained and highly skilled watchmakers. In those days, manufacture meant manufacture with, for example, hairsprings being manufactured onsite (or more precisely, by a company Smiths had set up in a converted Grange a few hundred yards to the north of the main factory). Interestingly enough, I recently met an elderly lady who was in fact in charge of the workforce at the hairspring factory at the Grange for a time; though we didn’t have the opportunity to talk in detail about her days with ‘British Precision Springs’, I could tell from what she was saying that she looked back on that era with great affection.
As the factory site was developed and expanded during the Second World War, then production of 8 day aircraft clocks was undertaken in the second factory (CH2) along with watches. Mainstream sales to the civilian market commenced around 1947. What of course we mustn’t forget is that the product offerings from Smiths covered an increasingly wide spectrum as time progressed. Thus, we can include automatic pilot units, RPM Indicators, Air Speed Indicators, fuel gauges, head up displays, autoland systems amongst others. Most of the aforementioned were produced at the same time as a wide range of wristwatches for public consumption and from the same (ever expanding) site at Bishop’s Cleeve. In the past, I had only ever considered Revue Thommen as a company which produced wristwatches as well as aircraft instrumentation; however, on my doorstep was factory which between 1947 and 1971 produced a wide range of wristwatches, some of them of a very high quality.
In terms of wristwatches, then from 1947 onwards Smiths produced catalogues on a yearly basis and the highest grades of the range were produced at the Cheltenham factory. A small range of gents and ladies calibres were produced onsite with a varying jewel count; one series of automatic was available by the late 1950s with heavy design influences from IWC. Small seconds, indirect centre seconds and date options were available.
The Horological Journal of September 1965 contains an article describing the watch manufacturing operation at Bishop’s Cleeve. In addition to mentioning the manufacturing tolerances adhered to, reference is made to the timing of movements; I find it fascinating that the Smiths movements of the mid 1960s were as a matter of course timed and adjusted for either 8 or 12 days in three positions. I would not know which other mainstream manufacturers undertook such timing for all its production. It is stated also that the automatic calibre was assembled totally by hand, likewise stopwatch calibres. Even then, the handwind calibres were assembled in the main by hand with final positioning of sub assemblies assisted by vacuum fixtures and air tools. The overall picture is of a local workforce involved in the careful manufacture of a high quality product with quality control taking place at all stages. If I had known such a long time ago I would most certainly have held Smiths in higher esteem than perhaps I did. All after sales service was carried out at Bishop’s Cleeve too; repaired movements being timed for six days in three positions.
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