New gilt version - SMITHS EVEREST PRS-25 -36MM

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SlowLoris
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New gilt version - SMITHS EVEREST PRS-25 -36MM

Post by SlowLoris »

This is up for grabs on Sunday. Gorgeous. What do you think?

https://www.timefactors.com/collections ... -gilt-dial
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Re: New gilt version - SMITHS EVEREST PRS-25 -36MM

Post by jkbarnes »

I love it! Simple with a bit of class from the gilt
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Re: New gilt version - SMITHS EVEREST PRS-25 -36MM

Post by missF »

Yip - me too - it's lovely :thumbup:
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Re: New gilt version - SMITHS EVEREST PRS-25 -36MM

Post by exHowfener »

From the post title, I was expecting something really tacky but that's really quite nice. They do make some good looking watches, although some of them are a little on the small side.
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Re: New gilt version - SMITHS EVEREST PRS-25 -36MM

Post by jkbarnes »

The Smiths would not be considered a Rolex Explorer homage, correct? It’s my understanding the Smiths watch is a contemporary of the Explorer? Is that correct?
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Re: New gilt version - SMITHS EVEREST PRS-25 -36MM

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

jkbarnes wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 7:41 pm The Smiths would not be considered a Rolex Explorer homage, correct? It’s my understanding the Smiths watch is a contemporary of the Explorer? Is that correct?
Yes...and no.

Early "Pre-Explorer" Rolexes were worn by the 1952 Swiss Everest expedition. Leader Raymond Lambert gifted his own Rolex to Sirdar Tenzing Norghay.

When Tenzing became Sirdar to the Hunt Expedition of 1953, it is believed that he wore his (Lambert's) Rolex to the summit. The 1953 expedition were issued with Rolexes but also with a Smiths Deluxe variant that Edmund Hillary claimed to have carried (worn?) to the summit. His watch is in the Clockmaker's Museum in the Science Museum in London.

Hillary.JPG
The original Smiths Everest, cashing in on the reputation throughout the 1950s and 1960s, is nothing like the Explorer. It was only when Timefactors acquired the rights to the Smiths Everest name that he Explorer homage began to be made.
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Re: New gilt version - SMITHS EVEREST PRS-25 -36MM

Post by jkbarnes »

Thanks for the background. I was aware of the connection Smith’s had the Everest expeditions and thought (assumed?) that both the Smith’s watch and the Rolex Explorer more or less looked the same - in the way an organization might issue a spec requirement and multiple manufacturers produce items that meet the spec.

So basically, this Smith’s is an homage to the Explorer.
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Re: New gilt version - SMITHS EVEREST PRS-25 -36MM

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

jkbarnes wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 8:43 pm So basically, this Smith’s is an homage to the Explorer.
It is...

...but to me it is, and will only ever be, a Smiths Everest in name only.
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Re: New gilt version - SMITHS EVEREST PRS-25 -36MM

Post by exHowfener »

Smiths is yet another brand that folded and the name has been resurrected. They (Timefactors) do make some good looking watches that seem to be well thought of. but there really is no connection between these watches and the one that went up Everest in 1953.
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Re: New gilt version - SMITHS EVEREST PRS-25 -36MM

Post by ItsAliveJim »

jkbarnes wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 7:41 pm The Smiths would not be considered a Rolex Explorer homage, correct? It’s my understanding the Smiths watch is a contemporary of the Explorer? Is that correct?
Smiths Everest gilt dial

Image

Rolex Explorer 1016

Image


Apart from that, there are no similarities :thumbup:

I always thought TF's Expedition was nearer to the original Deluxe

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Re: New gilt version - SMITHS EVEREST PRS-25 -36MM

Post by rkovars »

I think you are right about the De Luxe Expedition being closer to what was carried. The Rolex was just finding its legs and hadn't gotten to the iconic Explorer yet either.


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Re: New gilt version - SMITHS EVEREST PRS-25 -36MM

Post by neil8fletcher3 »

From timefactors about the expedition

"The Everest "Expedition" is a nod to the Smiths A454, a member of the Everest family but also known as the "Antarctic" because it was used by Sir Vivian Fuchs and Sir Edmund Hillary during their Trans-Antarctic expedition 1955-58."

I own the Everest and to me it is a homage of the 1016 explorer which to me is unobtainable, the PRS-25 is however a lovely watch, modern materials and manufacturing but a vintage size and feel
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Re: New gilt version - SMITHS EVEREST PRS-25 -36MM

Post by robert75 »

Only just noticed the "De Luxe" on the dial of the new Smiths watches. Both it and the gilt on the dial give it an interesting vintage feel.
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Re: New gilt version - SMITHS EVEREST PRS-25 -36MM

Post by Dynamite_Kid19 »

I'm on the Smiths email list and didn't see the Commando version announced. I like that 1 as no Merc hands.

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Re: New gilt version - SMITHS EVEREST PRS-25 -36MM

Post by Mabeco »

Dynamite_Kid19 wrote: Wed Feb 10, 2021 3:55 am I'm on the Smiths email list and didn't see the Commando version announced. I like that 1 as no Merc hands.

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I'd like to see the Everest with no merc hands either.
Or the expedition in a black version :)
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