Quote Originally Posted by Broussard View Post
From whom did Tenzing borrow his Smiths? Rolex didn't "issue" any of their watches to anyone outside of the core (British and NZ) team, and I haven't seen anything from Smiths that would suggest that they did, either. It's possible he had his own, but it's not a given. Surely Smiths would have mentioned it, at some point?

My research suggests that Tenzing had at least two watches - one Rolex given to him by Rolex *after* the event, and another "given ... in Calcutta by the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee." Officially, that Committee wasn't founded until 1966, so it probably refers to the Bengal Provincial Congress Committee, but it's odd that a contemporaneous report would get the names "wrong".

He also told a reporter in Kathmandu that "among his treasured mementos were two wrist watches, one given to him by Gen CG Bruce and another that was`Tenzing's own special wrist-watch made for high altitude climbing'". However, Bruce didn't return to Everest after the 1924 Expedition, so Tenzing must have got it from Bruce somewhere else (Punjab?). As for the other watch, this might be the Rolex gifted to him after the Swiss 1952 Expedition.

It's all quite hard to unpick.
I don't think Rolex issued the watches to anyone. They gave a bunch to the expedition that didn't reach them until Kathmandu and both watches appear to have shared out in an arbitrary manner, leaving some with Smiths, some with Rolex and the senior members of the team with both. If you examine the Rolex given to Hillary by Boseks of Calcutta and compare it to Wylie or any of the other known Everest Rolex, it is quite clear that they are all marked with the same font to the same depth. It could be a coincidence, but it does offer a neat solution to the question of how watches that were not given to individuals ended up personally engraved. It is worth noting that the watches given to the Swiss expedition of the previous year were marked with the logo of the Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research with some being subsequently further engraved and some not.