Smiths 6B/9614045 RAF Pilots Military Wristwatch c.1967
The end of the Second World War by no means brought about total peace for Britain who became involved in conflicts all over the world. Such conflicts in Palestine, Malaya and Korea were fought with the equipment left over from WW2, which in watch terms for the British Army was primarily the W.W.W’s.
The W.W.W’s remained in continuous use and were joined in the late 1960s by the Smiths W10 wristwatch. These were followed by the W10 mechanical wristwatches produced by CWC and Hamilton in the 1970s.
The Smiths W10s were used by British personnel during the Falklands War in 1982 and up to the first Gulf War at the beginning of the 1990s.
Smiths have a grand history in the UK as watch, clock and instrument makers. They are famed for having produced watches for the British military and Smiths watches even accompanied members of the first Mount Everest Expedition. Sadly, Smiths produced their last military wristwatches in the early 1970s.
These Smiths wristwatches were the last mechanical watches to be produced in the UK to be issued to the British Army.
The Smiths 6B/9614045 RAF variant of this iconic British military timepiece is extremely rare and far less common than its W10 Army counterpart. These watches were issued to the RAF in very small numbers for two years from 1967 to 1968. It is estimated around 1,000 were issued to the RAF in 1967 and only 250 in 1968 which makes the watch for sale extremely sought after and highly prized by watch collectors and military enthusiasts alike.
