1968/69 Smiths W10 British Military Unsigned Civilian Model

From the original owner Bernard:

"The watch was given to me by my father in about 1969, my father having received it new from the Smiths factory, as he had secured a contract with Smiths to supply these watches directly to the military. He requested multiple (50, maybe less) to be delivered without military engraving on the casebacks, as you said, this is now called "Civilianised". These were intended to be given to staff for loyalty, I believe some were engraved with names for those staff. He kept 2 and gave me and my brother one each, my brother still hasn't located his, but said he will contact you if he does. The watch originally had a NATO strap fitted to it. I did have the watch serviced some years ago by an experienced watchmaker based in Barnet who has since retired.

As we discussed, my father was the export director for Blackwell Young and Company Limited, who were major suppliers and manufacturers of uniforms, badges and other equipment to the military, both in the UK and abroad, trading under the name of Beewyse. Their offices were based in Broad Street Avenue, London, EC2 (which has since been re-developed), and they had manufacturing factories in Manchester and also in Hong Kong when it was still a British Crown colony. For a bit of added history, I have attached a couple of photos of a military cap badge made by my father’s company – this badge was made for the Air Force in Kuwait many years ago.

As you told me that you were originally from Leicester, I do know that my father gave a number of large contracts to HJ Hall in Leicester to manufacture and supply socks to the military, and I am pleased to say that they are still manufacturing socks in Leicester to this day."