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Originally Posted by whiskas
A real factory! Awesome how they took care of pretty much everything in house
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It was after the 'clock & watch' era that I joined Smiths, but a number of my colleagues recalled that vertically integrated production capability. Even the smallest components were manufactured in machine shops full of precision Swiss automatic 'screw machine' lathes like these Petermann examples
http://www.lathes.co.uk/petermann/ . The best Smiths watches were claimed to be the quality equal of Rolexes and Omegas.
There's an interesting link between the Smiths clock & watch business and today's electronic connectors. Smiths is today well known for its high reliability Hypertac connector. See for example
https://www.connectortips.com/would-...nector-design/
The Hypertac was invented in France in the 1950s by Francois Bonhomme to fulfil the need for a reliable electrical contact in the arduous rail industry. Smiths recognised the need for hi-rel connections in avionics and also that the manufacture of the precision turned components used the same familiar techniques as in clock & watch production. So Smiths in London became a licensee of the Bonhomme patents. Today Smiths owns the technology and its Interconnect Division has connector factories worldwide.
Martin