Smiths
To readers of this website, Smiths is synonymous with timepieces, but in truth timepieces formed a tiny fraction of Smiths' output; indeed in 1966, S Smith & Sons became Smiths Industries to better represent their vast engineering presence. There are two comprehensive histories of Smiths: the Smiths Group official centennial history, "A long time in making" by Dr James Nye (2014) and a privately researched and published "S Smiths & Sons Ltd - The Golden Years" by Barry M Jones (2013) - the latter also analyses many of the companies diverse products (it would be easier to list what Smiths were not involved in)!
Jewellers and Diamond-merchants.
Smiths' origins date to around 1850 to Samuel Smith as a jeweller and diamond merchant centered on Newington Causeway, south London, also marketing clocks, pocket-watches, spectacles and magic-lanterns. All their products were bought in - timepieces used English, Swiss or German movements... albeit signed S Smith & Son. And so it remained until 1929 when the Smith family sold the retail side to concentrate on their massive, publicly owned Motor Accessories business, whose origins go back to 1904 with their first speedometer… and soon branched out into carburettors, and aircraft instruments; it was at this point that Smiths became manufacturers in their own right. Having just sold their retail side in 1929, Allan Gordon Smith acquired Williamsons to fulfil his dream of making electric clocks... as so began their 'Sectric' business and, using Williamson's famous Astral and Empire movements, the Smiths English Clocks business became clockmakers in their own right. Smiths then acquired Enfield and other fledgling clockmakers... but though Williamsons produced the high grade Astral pocket-watch, there is no indication that Smiths continued its production although in 1938 Smiths did begin development of a new pocket-watch sized calibre, of which little is known.
Myths and legends
The 1930s remain a bit of grey area which encourages over enthusiastic speculation. Indeed, identical time-pieces carry either the S Smith & Son Ltd (Trafalgar Square) or S Smiths & Sons (MA) Ltd legend note plural 'Sons') suggesting MA was marketing since 1913, timepieces to the motoring, aviation and military markets alongside the family retail business - this is poorly recorded. Indeed in the 1930s Smiths (MA) was marketing Swiss Landeron chronograph wristwatches, probably as an aircraft navigation aid (Smiths was pioneering auto-pilots). The other major myth and legend concerns Robert Lenoir and Smiths' war-time development of pocket-, stop- and wrist-watches... and Jaeger-LeCoultre.
Robert Lenoir, a Frenchman was trained in horology at Le Locle and worked for both Jaeger and LeCoultre but his Smiths connection came through Jaeger's attempts to boost adoption by the British motor industry of their speedometers. As a major competitor and aware that Lucas (Smiths' arch-rival) was interested in Jaeger, Smiths secured a major shareholding in Jaeger's British operations... including Lenoir! To cut a long story short, Jaeger and Smiths jointly formed ABEC (All-British Escapement Co) to produce truly British-made speedometer, car and aircraft escapes and clock-movements. Lenoir introduced novel industrial engineering techniques quite different to the Swiss methods to use unskilled labour; the claim that Smiths' later watch movements were to J-LC designs is erroneous; indeed they probably owe as much to Williamsons and Lemania for in 1938 Smiths became major government contractors in the manufacture, service and repair of, mostly, aircraft instruments and clocks.
