Smiths RY Empire

 
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Smiths RY Empire

Description

The Anglo-Celtic watch company with their “Smiths” labelled movements from Ystradgynlais in Wales belongs for sure into the list of rare to find manufacturers.

One of their at least visually very pleasant movements is the 13 ligne caliber Smiths RY Empire, a pin lever movement in a Roskopf construction.

Smiths RY Empire: base plate

base plate

As on many pin lever movement in Roskopf construction, the hand setting wheel is locate on the base plate and not on the dial side. It is driven by the yoke wheel, which means, that this movement uses a yoke winding system.

There are hardly any bearing jewels, all jewels of this movement are obstructed in the balance section: 2 bearing jewels, two cap jewels and the ellipse jewel.

Smiths RY Empire: gear train

gear train

The already mentioned Roskopf construction can be seen on the extra large mainspring barrel, which surpasses the center and the following only three gears, second wheel, third wheel and finally the escapement wheel. The former two are also very large.

Smiths RY Empire: Side view of the gear train

Side view of the gear train

The enormous gear ratios come out even better in the side view.

While true Roskopf movements beat with 17280 A/h, the Smiths RY Emire uses the standard beating frequency of 18000 A/h. Its screw-less anular balance is not shock protected and also lacks an adjustment arm.

Smiths RY Empire: Smiths RY Emipre: Dial side

Smiths RY Emipre: Dial side

Zifferblattseitig erkennt man den recht gut ausgearbeiteten Kupplungsaufzug.

The typical Roskopf feature, namely that hours and minutes wheel are driven directly from the mainspring barrel, or by a slip clutch mounted thereon double wheel, you can only guess in this view, unfortunately - but it is indeed so!

In the lab

The condition of the specimen shown here was pretty good, so no service was made.

Timegrapher result

On the timegrapher, the Smiths RY Empire performed as expected:
The position rates differ pretty much, but on being worn, they would more or less egalize each other. With a higher amplitude (could be achieved by a service and/or exchange of the mainspring) and a lower beat error, the rates could be be better. Nevertheless, for a pin lever movement of that age, they are yet acceptable.

horizontal positions
dial up +15 s/d 176° 2.1ms
dial down -18 s/d 216° 2.6ms
vertical positions
crown right (12 up) -150 s/d 208° 2.9ms
crown up (3 up) +60 s/d 213° 2.1ms
crown left (6 up) +45 s/d 212° 2.3ms
crown down (9 up) -97 s/d 249° 2.2ms

Technical data

Manufacturer:Smiths
Caliber:RY Empire
Size:13''' (measured: 29,3mm)
A/h:18000
Number of jewels:5
Escapement:Pin lever
Balance types: Nickel anular balance
Shock protection(s): none
Balance bearing / direction hairspring:Clockwise
Moveable stud:no
Adjust mechanism:Hairspring key
Construction:
  • lever
  • third wheel, seconds wheel, third wheel, center minute wheel, mainspring barrel
Construction type:pillar construction
Winding mechanism:yoke winding system
References: Flume: 1962 24
Inventory number:17047

Usage gallery

Smiths RY Empire: Smiths Empire gents watch

Smiths Empire gents watch

Other movements from Smiths