May 5, 2023
Smiths’ Everest Adventure: The Other "Explorer" Watch That Made Mounta
The Smiths Watch Company traces its history all the way back to 1851, the year that its founder, Samuel Smith, Sr., opened his watch and clock shop on Newington Causeway in London. Like other horological concerns in the late 19th Century, the family firm, originally dubbed S. Smith & Sons, specialized in pocket watches. It was quite successful, eventually moving its headquarters to a larger venue on London’s bustling Strand and opening shops in the fashionable Piccadilly and Trafalgar Square marketplaces. By the early 20th Century, S. Smith & Sons had staked out a substantial spot in British watchmaking history, producing in 1900 the groundbreaking “mileometer,” a device that combined a speedometer and an odometer; and becoming a trusted purveyor of timepieces and other instruments to the Royal Family in 1904, when King Edward VII commissioned a speedometer from the firm for his personal Mercedes motorcar. It was the rise of the automobile, in fact, that brought Smiths much of its expansion in the coming decades. Another company, Smiths Motor Accessories, opened up in 1914, run by Samuel Smith Sr.’s grandson Allan Gordon Smith, which produced carburetors, speedometers, and other accessories for the growing automotive industry. With the onset of the First World War, the company also started making onboard instruments for aircraft and fuses for bombs. The Smiths added another offshoot company, devoted to making English clocks, in 1931, and acquired, among other fi...
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