Smiths were the only watches worn on the summit of Everest in '53. The proof.

[Rev-O]

A fine piece of work which deserves wider publication.

One tiny niggle: 11.30am in Nepal would be 7.00am in the UK.

Interesting also to see the price of the Smiths in the advert. In today's money £7 10s would be £205 though a better comparison is that in 1953 the watch cost just over 80% of the average male weekly wage. That would make it around £450 today.

Yes, an outstanding post. Thanks Matt!

Two more tiny quibbles: the Smiths' 1215 (12 linge; 15 jewels) is cal. 400 (not cal. 40 as stated) and Rolex did supply watches on "bamboo" / ladder style bracelets, made not by Bonklip in England but by Gay Freres in Switzerland. (I think, though, that the ones they suppled to the Hunt Team were on brown leather straps and it may well be the case that by the early '50s they weren't using the "bamboo" / ladder style any more, although GF still made their bracelets.)

Re the price of a watch: the ATPs suppiled to the army in 1939/40 were ordered at £3 per unit. This was probably a special contract price rather than retail. That's why they were all numbered and signed-for. Lose it at your peril, soldier! (And your pay will be docked.) "Early this year I saw ex-army watches exhibited in a showcase at a little under £4 each. A week or two later I succeeded in buying one of them for £5. Recently their price seems to have risen to £8." (George Orwell, "As I Please", Tribune, 29th November 1946)

A watch was something like a smart phone in terms of price: common and useful to the point of being considered necessary but still not cheap. Even basic ones were several days' worth of pay. Considering you can now pick up a new Chinese quartz for a fiver (much less than an hour of minimum wage) that's quite something.

[M4tt]

Yes, an outstanding post. Thanks Matt!

Two more tiny quibbles: the Smiths' 1215 (12 linge; 15 jewels) is cal. 400 (not cal. 40 as stated) and Rolex did supply watches on "bamboo" / ladder style bracelets, made not by Bonklip in England but by Gay Freres in Switzerland. (I think, though, that the ones they suppled to the Hunt Team were on brown leather straps and it may well be the case that by the early '50s they weren't using the "bamboo" / ladder style any more, although GF still made their bracelets.)

Re the price of a watch: the ATPs suppiled to the army in 1939/40 were ordered at £3 per unit. This was probably a special contract price rather than retail. That's why they were all numbered and signed-for. Lose it at your peril, soldier! (And your pay will be docked.) "Early this year I saw ex-army watches exhibited in a showcase at a little under £4 each. A week or two later I succeeded in buying one of them for £5. Recently their price seems to have risen to £8." (George Orwell, "As I Please", Tribune, 29th November 1946)

A watch was something like a smart phone in terms of price: common and useful to the point of being considered necessary but still not cheap. Even basic ones were several days' worth of pay. Considering you can now pick up a new Chinese quartz for a fiver (much less than an hour of minimum wage) that's quite something.

It’s by double checking the tiny quibbles and correcting accordingly that stuff gets better. I’ll never complain when people help me get better. You can see that I incorporated the discussion about the A404/A409 discussion. Small details matter.

Rolex were explicit (in their receipt) that the watches were delivered on extra long leather straps.

[redkite]

Excellent, i think you should get an honourary research degree...