My 6 Smiths watches, ranked
Here are the Smiths I own: PRS-25 Everest, Everest Expedition, PRS-29A (W10 remake), PRS-29AM, Commander, Traveller (blue bezel). Have a think how you would rank them before seeing my rankings. I'll ramble a bit so that the answer scrolls down further while you think of your answers.
I have many, many watches, and out of my many watches I would say I have a "collection" of certain brands. I have a collection of titanium G-shock squares, I have a collection of Tudors, I have a collection of Seikos and I have a collection of Smiths. I have multiple models of many other brands, but I wouldn't call them a "collection". To me as far as mechanical watches are concerned, I only really have a "real" collection of Tudors and Smiths, because they are brands that I love, whereas Seiko has being going downhill as far as their value proposition is concerned (and persistently bad QC), and so I only "incidently" collected them over 3 decades. In other words, I think of Smiths as way above the Seiko brand and so kudos to Eddie for creating a brand with consistent quality and excellent features.
The things I love the most about Smiths will help dictate the rankings of my 6 Smiths watches. I like the small diameter, the no-date features (since I have so many watches, it's good to be able to pick one up to enjoy without fiddling around with the date that I don't need and that ruins the dial), the excellent solid bracelets, the antimagnetic protection, the great movement choice, great heritage, the unbeatable value and the classic good looks. These are the same reasons why I like Tudor watches, which I consider in a way a "higher-end Smiths".
I think the movement choices for all my Smiths are excellent. I have had superb zero beat error measurements on all of them, while my recent Seiko purchases just had really really bad beat error, which means I will no longer ever buy Seiko again unless they make drastic movement improvements, and also I have developed a great admiration for Miyota 8xxx movements. I will also remark that Smiths bracelets are just superb quality. Even though they are derivative of Rolex designs, they are very very high quality and the links are equal in quality to Tudor (the clasp not so much). I often stare at the "oyster" style bracelets because they are just so beautiful. I have owned many many aftermarket oyster style bracelets, so I know that most of them are just finished poorly, and most of them are not "perfect" like Rolex, Tudor or Smiths bracelets are. Also, because they are using screw pins, that automatically makes Smiths watches of higher quality than most Swatch Group brands that predominantly use disposable, cheap and weak cotter pins in their bracelets (I'm looking at you Longines!). Disposable parts does not equal heirloom quality.
So here are my rankings:
#6: PRS-25 Everest - if anything, this would be the watch I would sell. It is too derivative of the Rolex Explorer which I already have, and is too inauthentic given it doesn't look anything like the Smiths that summited Everest, and looks like the Rolex that it beat to the top, which is just weird. I got this watch as a stop-gap while I waited for my Explorer to come in. It's an okay watch, but is just redundant in light of the other watches on this list.
#5: PRS-29AM - the weird thing about this watch is when I bought this and the PRS-29A at the same time, I figured that the AM version would be the one I preferred, but after getting the 'A' version I was just thrilled with the brightness of the lume and clean looks of the 'A'. The PRS-29AM is not a bad watch actually, and I wouldn't think of selling it, it just isn't as loved as the others on this list.
#4: Commander - this watch is a fantastic watch as far as features are concerned, but it has 2 things wrong about it: it doesn't have a divers extension, which is a grave error as far as a "diving watch" is concerned, and it's too thick. On the wrist, this watch oozes quality and yet the thickness of it detracts from its beauty on the wrist. If you've ever tried on a Tudor Black Bay 54 you will get it - the 54 is a smaller diameter watch, but is only 11.24mm thick and it just wears beautifully on the wrist - you just don't want to take it off. I wish the Commander would also have this feeling.
#3: PRS-29A - it's hard to rank this one compared with #2, as they're both pretty close. I really really love this watch. The movement choice, the dimensions are so perfect that this is one of those watches that you don't want to take off because it fits so nicely on the wrist. It has one of the brightest lumes of all the watches I own which I really really enjoy. I think the only reason why this is not #2 is for the lack of a bracelet option.
#2: Everest Expedition - this is the Everest to own. I am wearing it right now as I write this. Like I mentioned earlier, I love Smiths bracelets, and in particular the Oyster variant with or without the faux rivets. I think the overall execution of the case, dial, hands and bracelet wins over the PRS-29A. The dial and hands are truly beautiful and the overall look of the watch just encapsulates all the best parts of the vintage aesthetic completely. I also love of course that it commemorates the actual Antarctic expedition of Sir Edmund Hillary (and actually looks like the watch he wore) so it has real heritage cred.
#1: Traveller (Blue) - this watch is aesthetically extraordinary to me. The blue ceramic bezel combined with the dial and hands and dimenions just look too beautiful to not make it #1. Although, like the Commander, it *IS* too thick, but as an overall package it is sooooo good, that I can overlook the thickness to make it my #1. I love how this is one of the very very few true GMT watches without a date (the only other one I can think of is the Omega Seamaster 300, in particular the Spectre version), as having no date distills the watch down to it's most aesthetically clean and perfect self.
One of the gripes of True GMT watches is that when you pick it up to set and go, changing the date is a bit of a chore, but the Traveller solves this problem by getting rid of the date altogether. The Traveller is truly a watch I can pick up and go to accentuate wherever I want to go that day. The combination of that gorgeous blue bezel, blued hands and cream dial just befits that sunny vacation vibe that brings me happiness.
