Smiths

Smiths began in 1851 as Samuel Smith’s watch and jewellery shop at Newington Causeway in south London.^1, 2

The move to the Strand is dated two ways: Wikipedia says the business moved its centre there in 1872, Grace’s Guide that Samuel Smith junior opened larger premises there in 1873.^1, 2

It sold precision watches: Grace’s Guide quotes an 1898 description of the firm as watchmakers to the Admiralty with certificates from Kew, and Wikipedia says its Admiralty watches were mostly made by Nicole Nielsen of Soho Square.^1, 2

Grace’s Guide records Smiths wristwatches advertised in 1914, the year the motor accessories business was moved into a separate company, the start of the instrument maker that later became Smiths Industries.²

The instrument company returned to timekeeping in 1931 with Smiths English Clocks, which Grace’s Guide says was making 4,000 clocks a week by 1932.^3, 9

In 1932 it bought English Clock and Watch Manufacturers of Coventry, formerly H. Williamson.^3, 10

Grace’s Guide records that in 1939 Smiths bought Kayte Farm at Bishop’s Cleeve, near Cheltenham, against the bombing expected in London, and that in the war it made shell fuses and set up British Precision Springs for hairsprings once the German supply stopped.⁹

The war showed the gap: in 1943 the Board of Trade told the Commons that cheap watches and watch parts were not made in Britain.¹¹

The Anglo-Celtic Watch Company, owned in equal shares by Smiths English Clocks, Ingersoll Ltd and initially Vickers-Armstrongs, was built at Ystradgynlais with government support and opened on 15 March 1947.^1, 4, 5

The Brecknock Society’s history names the Australian-born Denis W. Barrett as its driving force and records the Chancellor, Hugh Dalton, opening it with a promise of “a new Switzerland” among the Welsh mountains.⁵

Vickers-Armstrongs sold its share to the other two in 1948, and Grace’s Guide records the company as part of S. Smith and Sons (England) from 1951.^4, 5

The Brecknock Society says that at its height in the mid-1960s the factory made 30,000 watches a week, pin-lever and jewelled-lever, for more than sixty countries, buying in only the hairspring and the glass; next door the Enfield Clock Company, moved from London in 1949, made 800 clocks a day.⁵

Smiths made its better watches at Cheltenham. The Science Museum Group’s record of the Smiths De Luxe that Edmund Hillary wore to the summit of Everest on 29 May 1953 names its maker as Smiths English Clocks, Cheltenham.^1, 6, 7

Wikipedia notes that Rolex also supplied watches to the expedition, but that the watch worn to the summit was the Smiths.¹

Smiths English Clocks was renamed Smiths Clocks and Watches in about 1955.^3, 12

James Nye of the Antiquarian Horological Society writes that Smiths lost money on every watch made at Cheltenham and that production there ended by March 1971, after an announcement in September 1970.⁷

Nye says a small team carried on with a quartz watch, the Quasar, shown at the Basle Fair in 1973, and that Smiths dropped it after its chairman and managing director saw Seiko’s factories.⁷

Grace’s Guide records the clock and watch business split into separate companies in 1977 and the end of clocks for the home market in 1979.¹²

The Anglo-Celtic factory closed in 1980; the Brecknock Society says the site went to Smiths’ vehicle-instrument business, which was sold to Lucas in 1983.^1, 5