Dear All,

For sale is this Smiths De Luxe 6B/542 British Military Wristwatch c.1955

In the 1950s, prior to the production of the Smiths W10, Smiths were commissioned by the British Government to produce a “General Service” (GS) wristwatch which was to be used across all branches of the UK armed forces and was to be manufactured to the precise specification of the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

An order was subsequently placed for 300 pre-production examples, the first of which was issued to the RAF in the mid-1950s. The watch for sale was issued to the RAF in 1955 and carries the same 6B/542 designation as the more common Omega “53” pilots’ wristwatches.

Following the first 300 examples being produced it would appear the MoD had no further requirement for any additional watches and no more orders were made. This was until 1961 when around 600 examples were produced and issued to the Royal Australian Air Force. Due to the small number of watches manufactured, the cost to Smiths to produce each watch was extremely expensive.

The Smiths De Luxe GS 6B/542 is extremely rare and is considered by many military watch collectors as something of a “grail” watch. This is mainly due to the small number of these watches being produced and the very few examples that are known to exist.

The watch is in very good overall condition.

The original factory dial is in good condition. There is some minor wear to the outer edge of the dial, mainly around the “2” and “3” markers.

The hands and crown are all correct to the original specification of the watch. The second hand appears to have been shortened slightly at some point in time. The crown is a new old stock replacement.

As expected, there are several fairly minor scratches and marks to the outer casing of the watch which are commensurate with age.

The 27CS calibre movement is currently running well and keeping excellent time and retains its original dust cover.

The watch diameter is 36mm.

Please see photos below:

The watch is currently listed for sale on our website for £10,995. The watch comes complete with two new NATO straps and a quality handmade leather watch pouch.

All our items are guaranteed to be completely genuine and authentic examples of their kind. We offer a fourteen-day "no quibble" money-back guarantee on all the items we sell together with a full six-month warranty on all our wristwatches and clocks. This means that you can buy from us with complete confidence.

For further information on the watch for sale please feel free to call us on 0207 117 2807 or email us direct via info@finest-hour.co.uk

Many thanks and regards

Finest Hour

www.finest-hour.co.uk