Smiths
Created Wednesday 11 December 2024
Made in England
Smiths Astral - Made in England
Smiths Astral Movement
Looks to be a 1960 built movement from the serial number (60-461t)
15 Jewel
size: 34mm
lugs: 18mm
Smiths Made in England (Cheltenham) pocket watch
With N C Reader 'ALBO' Chain
Smith's Made in England open faced Sterling silver pocket watch.
Presented by ICI to 'N BECKETT for 25 Yrs service 1940'
Silver 'Dennison' case Birmingham 1947
Employees of Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) received early Smiths timepieces as presentation watches, but these have often led to some confusion amongst collectors. Although dials of these watches feature a 1945 print, the hallmarks present on their Sterling silver cases confirm that the actual year of production was in 1947. Smiths workers who had completed periods of long company service during the war received the 1945-printed presentation watches in recognition of their efforts. As time in the military counted towards company service, employees who had reached their long service point with Smiths while away at war would have had the commemorative year engraved on the back (e.g. 1945), not the year of presentation (e.g. 1947).
Smiths Advertisement
Clock Stamp
History
Once, S Smith & Sons gave the Swiss a run for their money, and the rolling Cotswold hills took on the might of the Jura Mountains. Borne of the government’s desire for wartime self-sufficiency regarding watches, clocks and timing mechanisms, funding was given to S Smith & Sons, watch and clock makers since 1851, who had since diversified into motor, aviation and marine instruments. This finance came in the form of MoD contracts, which were ongoing from the start of WWII. Fearful of enemy bombing, the high-grade watchmaking facility relocated to Cheltenham in “stealth” factories (single story with grass roofs) and against the odds, in straitened conditions managed to produce, from scratch, pocket watches, and by the end of WWII, wrist watches. The market for them settled at a solid but reasonable price: in 1959 an Imperial Automatic in stainless steel would have been £25 (£759 in 2024 money), the same thing manual-wound would have been £12 (£364). The post-war civilian market was tough, and despite introducing new models and movements, fine watchmaking ended in Cheltenham in 1971. During this brief period, they produced unique and distinctive watches that make a fascinating study for the fledgling collector.
It was rumoured that when the Smiths factory closed Timex bought out the company and at some point destroyed the tooling and remaining spare parts but regardless of the various rumours the name was resurrected some years ago by Eddie Platts at Time Factors who produces Smith’s watches which look very similar to the original models.
Smiths astral english manufactured watches. with smiths these were a line of watches with cheaper finishes to the escapement components. these started with the conventional 15 and 17 jewel movements and ended with the astral name being used on imported renamed products with swiss and japanese parts. this is actually one of the oldest smiths used names, with its origins in the 19th century being used finally by h.williamson before they were absorbed by smiths. the 19th/early 20th century versions came in 7-19 jewel versions.
Smiths ceased to produce clocks for the domestic market in 1979.
Company name changes
Circa 1955 the name Smiths English Clocks Ltd. was changed to "Smiths Clocks and Watches Ltd."
In 1966 the name of the principal company of the Smiths group was changed from "S Smith & Sons (England) Ltd" to "Smiths Industries"
In 1977 Smiths carried out another reorganisation of the clock and watch division, forming two separate companies, Smiths Industries Clock Co. and Smiths Industries Watch Co.
The variations of the company name provide a useful guide to the date of a clock
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