Some are restricting themselves to budgetary limits, and bid a maximum figure of, say £25 on .uk This works well for bargain hunters but if you buy to invest short term or seek the harder to find rarer watches, you generally have to enter a sensible bid, to the limit of your budget. Generally collectors work on buying lower value pieces, judging the bidding numbers.

This will define your buying area and budget. If you are buying Smiths watches, firstly decide whether you are a collector or dealer/investor, and whether you will use the watch as a timepiece or not. From the 1980's onwards Smiths Industries had successfully moved on into Avionics, Smiths being instrumental in the development of automated aircraft flying and landing controls, and finally in the 1980's the Aerospace division was extending its reach far into the jet age. By the time Smiths Aviation Division had become the main priority in the late 1970's the Clock and watch Division had broken up. By the end of the Second World War The Smiths Group comprised of over 20 companies.

The factory in Cheltenham that eventually manufactured the high quality timepieces featured here was built at the start of the Second World War.

then becoming S.Smith & Sons (England)Ltd, which split into Smiths Motor Accessories Ltd, Smiths Aircraft Instruments Ltd, Smiths English Clocks Ltd and Smiths industrial Instruments Ltd. Starting in London as Samuel Smith in 1851, progressing down the years to becoming S.Smith & Sons(Motor Accessories), receiving it's first Royal Warrant in 1907.

Ww1 calibre watches