Stainless steel cased, 17 jewel, centre-seconds club-tooth lever wrist-watch with black dial and luminous hands and batons and stainless steel bracelet

Description — British Museum

Movement with club-tooth lever escapement. Black-painted metal dial with outer minute circle with luminous-painted marks at the hours, larger triangle at 12; Arabic hour numerals 1-11. White-painted centre-seconds hand; luminous-painted hour and minute hands. Stainless-steel case with screw-on back; inside back is a 'Faraday box' to protect the movement from magnetic influences. Stainless-steel bracelet.

Curator's comments — British Museum

Comment from Richard Good, Catalogue of Watches in the British Museum. Vol. V (Unpublished manuscript) SMITHS England, c. 1969 Wrist Watch with a club tooth lever escapement Signature: On the dial 'SMITHS', a T in a circle and 'MADE IN ENGLAND'. Also on the dial is the government broad arrow. Case: A stainless steel case with a screw back and an armoured glass. Crudely engraved by hand on the case back is the following: W10/6645-99-961-4045 6371/68 and the broad arrow.(1) Covering the movement is a magnetic cup shaped shield, with the dial also acting as part of the Farraday box that shields the watch from magnetism. Dial & Hands: A black dial with white Arabic numerals except at the 12 which is marked by a luminised triangular dot. Also luminised batons at 3 6 and 9 o'clock with a larger baton at the 12. Also luminous dots at the 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 and 11. Luminised skeleton hands and a white centre seconds hand. Movement: The movement is gilded brass and the barrel bridge is marked '17 JEWELS MADE IN ENGLAND'. Ebauche Marks: On the inside of the front plate is 108. The movement is also numbered 60466E. Frame: A bridge for the barrel centre wheel and keyless work, one for the train with a cock for the third wheel lower pivot and centre seconds pinion. A cock for the pallets and one for the balance. Barrel and Mainspring: A recessed cover to the going barrel. Barrel: I diameter 10.4 mm., height 1.75 mm. Mainspring: height 1.65 mm, thickness 0.13 mm. Barrel Arbor: diameter 3.6 mm., snailed. Hooking: Milled from the barrel wall. Train: All the wheels gilded, the centre, third and fourth wheels with five crossings. The steel escape wheel with four. Jewelling: Jewelled bearings from the third wheel onwards, but additionally with the centre hole in the barrel bridge jewelled, all the jewels pressed in. 'Kif' shock protected bearings for the balance. The pallet pivot jewels and the lower third jewel are bombé. Escapement: A straight line layout club tooth lever escapement with short lever, double roller and D-shaped impulse pin. The exposed pallet stones have flat acting faces. A steel escape wheel with four crossings. An equidistant locking escapement. No. of teeth embraced 3½. Balance & Spring: a monometallic balance with a plain rim. Balance diameter 9.57 mm., thickness 0.62 mm. A 'self compensating' flat spiral spring with 15 turns. Means of Regulation: An index on the balance cock registers against a divided scale with '+' and '-' engraved on the balance cock table. Train Counts and Beat Rate: Great wheel 96 (barrel) Centre wheel 75 pinion 12 Third wheel 64 pinion 10 On the third pinion is also mounted a wheel of 60 to drive the centre seconds pinion of 12. This latter is constrained by a drag spring. Fourth wheel 60 pinion 8 Escape wheel 15 pinion 6 Beat rate 18,000 Motion work: cannon pinion 10 minute wheel 30, minute pinion 8 hour wheel 32 Winding System: Conventional positive stem set keyless work. The watch has a hacking feature which stops the balance when the hands are being set. Dimensions: Case: Diameter 35.2 mm., height 12.1 mm., over the glass. Movement: diameter 27 mm., height 7.1 mm. Provenance: Purchased in 1989 with the aid of funds from the Dingwall Bequest. Note: (1) On the back of a similar watch in the author's private collection is a similar watch but with the engraving done by machine, as has the back shown in the article mentioned below. Literature: See A. Taylerson 'Watches Issued to the British Armed Forces 1870 - 1970,2' HJ October 1995 p. 334. The watch illustrated in this article has the same general number on the back but its serial number is 2517/69.