Smiths De Luxe ref. 6B/542, Matte Black 'Broad Arrow' Dial RAF-Issued

Dealer description — Oliver & Clarke

Smiths can trace its origins to London in 1851, when Samuel Smith established a family business specializing in precision instruments and clocks. Over the following century, the company grew into one of Britain's foremost engineering firms, producing everything from automotive gauges to aircraft instruments before turning its attention to wristwatches. By the mid-twentieth century, Smiths was assembling watches in Wales using domestically produced movements, making them among the last truly British-made mechanical watches of their era. That reputation was cemented in 1953, when a Smiths wristwatch accompanied Sir Edmund Hillary on the first successful ascent of Mount Everest. The influx of inexpensive Swiss competition and the Quartz Crisis of the 1970s gradually brought Smiths' watchmaking ambitions to an end, with production ceasing by the early 1980s as the company refocused on its industrial and automotive businesses. Though the original watch division disappeared, the Smiths name has since been revived by Timefactors, whose faithful recreations preserve the utilitarian design, robust engineering, and distinctly British character that defined the marque's mechanical watches. The piece that we have here is special for a multitude of reasons. It was designed to meet the requirements of the British Ministry Of Defence to produce a watch that met a series of standards. Smiths, along with eleven other manufacturers would rise to the challenge to produce a timepiece that had a certain level of resistance to shock, magnetism, dust, and of course, excellent timekeeping. This example dates to circa 1965, which was the last year that these were produced and only very few were ever delivered. It is estimated that this is one of only about 300 units. The condition of this piece is extraordinary. The 36mm case remains unpolished and shows normal wear with no notable damage or indication this ever really saw the action that it was intended... The crown is probably original and the caseback retains all of the correct engravings. No doubt the most intriguing element of the condition on this piece, is the dial. As a general rule with military watches, hands and dials were replaces under contract service, and as a result is accepted in the collector community. The result is that many military-issued piece prior to the 1960s no longer have their original dials with Radium paint, rather later dials with Tritium (this is where the 'Circle T' comes from). This piece, however, has seemingly escaped contract service and retains its original Radium dial. Thankfully, like the rest of the watch, it remains is outstanding overall condition. The matte black surface is exceptionally clean and devoid of any major wear and retains excellent text and printing. The lower half bears the desirable 'Broad Arrow' and the Radium plots remain present and evenly paitnated with a correct and matching white-painted 'sword' handset Powering this piece is a British-made Calibre 27.CS manual-winding movements and comes fitted to a very appropriate green NATO strap. To many collectors of vintage, regardless of whether the focus is of military watches or not, this piece has everything going for it. Military issued, properly vintage, and borderline unbeatable condition. This is a real piece of history — a phrase often repeated in the world of watches, though rarely as deservedly as in this case.