In 1851 a gentleman named Samuel Smith opened a shop in London selling and making watches, clocks and precision instruments. This was the very beginning of the company that was to become the largest manufacturer of timepieces in the UK.
The business was taken over by Samuels son, another Samuel and then his son Allan-Gordon Smith. Allan -Gordon led the company into the production of motor and aircraft accessories, and as these industries developed and grew so did the Smiths companies.
In 1931 The clock & watch Division of S. Smith & Sons (England) Ltd was formed. Many subsidiary companies were formed and many name changes took place over the years.
The main watch producing factories were sited at Bishops Cleeve, Cheltenham (stopped watch production in 1971) and Ystradgynlais in South Wales. The Ystradgynlais factory was a consortium of Smiths English Clocks Ltd, Ingersoll Ltd and Vickers Armstrong Ltd., These companies formed the Anglo Celtic watch company, the consortium officially ended in 1969 and Smiths took over the whole factory. This factory was the largest producer of watches until its closure in 1980.
The watches manufactured before 1971 were totally British, after that date imported parts and movements were used in an attempt to keep the prices competetive with all the imported watches that were starting to flood the market.
