Smith's, too. A Smith's went to Everest with Hilary and Norgay. Here's an old Smiths watch ad for sale on ebay. Precista is now making a modern Smiths Everest. They own the rights to the name.
A quick search of the history of Rolex might give you an answer there! Originated in London after a German guy moved around Europe a bit. The article below is from wikipedia but there are other articles Ihave read that talk about it starting in London and moving later to Switzerland. Rolex SA and its subsidiary Montres Tudor SA design, manufacture, distribute and service high-quality wristwatches sold under the Rolex and Tudor brands. Founded by Hans Wildorf and Alfred Davis in London, England in 1905 as Wilsdorf and Davis, Rolex moved its base of operations to Geneva, Switzerland in 1919. Bloomberg Businessweek magazine ranked Rolex No.71 on its 2007 list of the 100 most valuable global brands.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference">[2]</sup> Rolex is the largest single luxury watch brand, producing about 2,000 watches per day, with estimated 2003 revenues of approximately US$3 billion.
Bite your tongue Speedo, I learned to drive on a '54 MGTD in 1961. The instruments were quite accurate unfortunately. Triumphs probably, the cars and for sure motorcycles had Smiths and then later my '77 Ducati bevel which I still share with my son...the instruments work. They were as good as anything for when they were. Nicer to look at than most. I drove a Jag XK120 and 140, Triumph TR3's and my buddy's Austin Healey, but I never in my life drove a Porsche. Probably VDO. The Healy would knock down a pack of Lucky's when you drove over them standing on end. As a kid I knew America was doomed as an empire because they didn't know how to make cars or motorcycles...how right I was. Fortunately for the world the Russians were no better. All IMHO. bill
I'm wearing virtually the same watch at this very moment. I got it for my 21st birthday in 1978. It has never given me any problems.
I like it, but it looks like a Coke (black/red as opposed to blue/red). Love the yellow dial, regardless.
It's a hand-winder, case diameter is about 35mm, and was $15 shipped from India off ebay. HMT is an Indian company, the use their own in-house movements, and I guess they've been around for a while. Keeps ok time, usually about a minute or two fast after 24hrs, which is perfectly acceptable to me. NATO is from Crown & Buckle, and is much better than the "genuine leather" stock strap. Total investment is right around $30, which works even for a broke undergrad such as myself. I'm just getting into watches myself, so I don't know too much- check out the Affordables sub-forum at watchuseek.com. That's actually where I heard about HMT, and I blame them for the damage done to my wallet!
Very cool. Has definite early-model Seamaster vibe going on. I'm also guilty of using study materials as a backdrop for watch photos!
Jesus Christ man. We invented time http://www.udibod.com/2012/05/02/john-harrison-the-clockmaker-who-changed-the-world/