Reply With QuoteVery interesting piece. Thanks for sharing.
Having seen a couple of 1/100th second stopwatches and chronographs on the forum in the last 12 months, I thought I’d share this. It’s a 1/100th stopwatch made by Smiths in England.
I think the dial, and the blued steel hands in particular, are very nice.
The dial totals three seconds, marked into 1/100th increments. The seconds sub-dial runs up to 90s, so perfect for sprint races up to 400m, swimming, greyhound racing etc. It’s quite impressive when it is underway, quieter than I thought it would be, and the flyback reset is instant.
https://youtu.be/PQd3AWDJpy4
The movement is simple but seems high quality to me, and quite robust.
The balance spring is pretty heavy duty, not surprising as I guess the balance must be moving at 360,000bph.
I have other movement detail shots that show a date code of 33 which I think is March 1963 for Smiths watches, and the maker as Smiths C&W Ltd. (Clock and Watch). I’m planning to check out the details with the good members of MWR when I get a minute.
I’m fascinated by mechanical high speed timing, which dates back to early in the 20th Century. I’d love to see other examples if anyone has any.
Last edited by alfat33; 14th December 2018 at 16:29. Reason: Changed video to Youtube
Very interesting piece. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for that, very interesting. I was given a '70s Smiths sports timer which is back in the UK, and am on the lookout for a nice earlier example like yours to join it.
Cheers Rusty. It appeals to me: prosaic, yet high quality. I imagine brown coated engineers at the factory in Cheltenham. ‘Measure accurate to 1/100th of a second? No problem, don’t need anything fancy for that.’
I missed a better one on eBay a few months ago, but this one came up well with a bit of Polywatch. The case is quite rugged, decent weight of stainless steel. Levering the caseback off takes some effort as there is no flex and it is quite deep, with an O-Ring seal. Overall it seems built to last, I’m sure there are plenty of decent ones out there for not much money.Originally Posted by Mr Curta
I have three Smiths timer examples in my small collection. My intention was to buy one but we all know how that often works out!!
Smiths 1/5th timer by Paul, on Flickr
Smiths 1/10th Sec timer by Paul, on Flickr
Smiths 1/100th Min timer by Paul, on Flickr
There are also a Precista example, CWC, Record and a unmarked fab.suisse. with a movement marked Breitling N° 17
A few still need a bit of pampering but nothing major.
Some lovely stopwatches gents, very cool.
Thanks Brummie, some nice ones there. Of course I’m stopping at one
I know that there were military versions of 1/5s stopwatch for various uses: artillery, torpedo etc. The decimal hour/minute production timers I also find fascinating as well.
That is really nice, I have a very nice smiths stopwatch too as well as 9 other stop watches, crazy really.
I've got a few mechanical stopwatches including two English made Smiths. Will share a pic later if I remember. They're nice little things to collect.
Very cool stopwatch. There is something about pocket stopwatch aesthetics that I really like. I would quite like one of these at some point!
Digging up this old thread as I recently picked up one of these rather cool 100th sec stopwatches like Alfat's, but issued. I was wondering what folk think the purpose of a 100th sec timer was in the services? There is a thread running on MWR about them too and apparently the 100th sec timers were hugely expensive compared to 10th or 5th sec timers, which makes sense, and partially explains why they are not often seen, that and they are clearly, by default, very task specific. It is my understanding that these fast timers are all Admiralty issued and aren't seen (up to now) in W10 or 6B guise, just 0552. But what did they use them for? Pics...
Smiths 1/100TH Min
Garrard 1/100th Min
Nero Leminia ASDIC Timer
CWC Addict has an article on stopwatches https://cwcaddict.com/stopwatches
Last edited by brummie64; 6th September 2022 at 14:42.
Brummie that Nero Lemania ASDIC is really very nice indeed.
It's a good reference site CWCaddict for sure and JJHughes has contributed over on MWR, it was he who I pinched the cost info from :thumbsup.
The Smiths 1/100th sec is a perfect example of the meeting of form and function to produce something that elevates it to become a really beautiful thing. I especially love the dial font and the hands. Whoever designed this was in a league of his own. Thanks to both owners for posting.
I now have 2 of these 100th secs Smiths timers, the issued one that I think is mid to late 1960's, and an earlier one that I suspect is 1950's. They both have the same dial but are in different cases. Curiously, Smiths seem to have changed the design of the balance set up at some point, the later SW43 cal 0626 has what we all recognise as a balance wheel with, as Alfat notes, a very sturdy hairspring. The earlier movement has a balance wheel that is very small and pretty much hidden beneath the jeweling of the balance bridge, and a very short (literally just one spiral), sturdy hairspring. They both seem to fulfil the intended purpose pretty well in a blizzard of whirring and spinning but according to the stopwatch on my phone they need regulating a tad. I know, it's a deep rabbit hole this
My technical knowledge is not good enough to draw any conclusions from the 2 differing balance/hairspring set ups but thought it interesting that there were 2 ways of 'skinning the cat', so to speak.
Detail of the earlier, very small balance wheel
I’ve just found an issued version of one of these in an antique shop in Wales, it’s a 552 also and dated 1970. It’s £55 which I thought sounded reasonable, is that a decent price?
Cheers..
Jase
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