Difference between revisions of "Smiths Military Models"
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As aircraft instrument makers, Smiths' main military contracts since WW.I were with the RAF (they had been major suppliers to the Admiralty). During the Phony War, Smiths began development of stop- and pocket-watches which saw service with all branches of HM Forces, but the supply of wrist-watches to the army came with the post-war GS followed by the W10 [[Smiths W10]] also briefly to the Navy. | As aircraft instrument makers, Smiths' main military contracts since WW.I were with the RAF (they had been major suppliers to the Admiralty). During the Phony War, Smiths began development of stop- and pocket-watches which saw service with all branches of HM Forces, but the supply of wrist-watches to the army came with the post-war GS followed by the W10 [[Smiths W10]] also briefly to the Navy. | ||
| − | + | Smiths did not tender for the 1970s/80 pattern high-beat military watches. These went to [[Hamilton W10|Hamilton]] and [[CWC G10|CWC]]. | |
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Latest revision as of 22:26, 28 January 2021
Smiths Military Models
RAF Models
There are four post-war “RAF” Smiths watches.
- Mk X - a 13-ligne sub-seconds watch on which the later 12-ligne 1215 sub-secs and 27CS centre-second models are based. There is very little evidence of the Mk.X entering RAF service but 'end of contract' models did enter the civilian market at war's end... actual numbers, dial and hand design remain a grey area. Some are badged 'SMITH'.
- GS De Luxe - 27CS based of the mid 1950s. Smiths had prototyped a centre-seconds model variant of the Mk.X during WW.II and were invited to take part, as the principal British watchmaker, in the development of a new post-war GS/RAF watch. Its development required adoption of shock-protection to which Smiths offered their own design.
- 6B- version of the more common Astral based W10 (which led to the development of the cal. 60466E and variants — 6046xE — used in many civilian Astral watches from the mid/late-1960s.)
- Mk XI Navigator- Smiths had a couple of new centre secs and automatic models on the drawing board by 1951 as both replacement for the 1215/27CS and the RAF Navigator of which one design has some similarities to the Cal 0104 (as used in the Imperial and Everest watches from the late 1950s onwards and which formed the basis of the bolted-on 25 jewel automatic rotor).
In terms of numbers there are (so far) 11 known Mk X (9 sub seconds, 2 centre seconds) and 47 known examples of the GS De Luxe (most RAF "6B", some Australian Airforce “RAAF” and some outliers including AWRE etc); there were about 2,000 6B versions of the W10 made. Between three and seven of the Mk XI “Navigators” are estimated to have been made.
Army Models
As aircraft instrument makers, Smiths' main military contracts since WW.I were with the RAF (they had been major suppliers to the Admiralty). During the Phony War, Smiths began development of stop- and pocket-watches which saw service with all branches of HM Forces, but the supply of wrist-watches to the army came with the post-war GS followed by the W10 Smiths W10 also briefly to the Navy.
Smiths did not tender for the 1970s/80 pattern high-beat military watches. These went to Hamilton and CWC.
