This one is too good!

Fantastic video, as always man!  Now, Max, don't take this the wrong way, and I'm not asking you out to dinner or anything, but has anybody ever told you how handsome you are?  

With regard to the Smiths...  I don't think I would ever get one.  

• Personally, more and more I'm finding that "heritage" just doesn't mean a thing to me.  I mean, "such and such watch was the first one worn while riding on the back of the Loch Ness Monster."  Okay.  Cool.  I'd like that if the watch on my wrist were the watch that had been the one during the taming of Nessie.  But, if I buy one, it's just a "replica" of the Nessie-taming watch.  It's like the below - really cool that the dress was the actual one.  Not so cool if it's isn't

• Now that there's a whole world of Seiko mods that you can buy, that are affordable and have Seiko reliability, why buy something totally "off-the-shelf" at that price point?
• Finally, I've heard absolutely horrifying stories about Smiths's customer service.  My understanding is that this is what it's like

Oh, by the way, you free for dinner sometime?

I haven't been able to snag one the time I tried to get one. I hear good things about San Martin but their vintage Explorer homage is 39mm 😵

I love my Smiths Commando PRS-47....I think these are totally worth it. I take mine everywhere without hesitation....a scratch here or there doesn't give me heart palpitations..... something that I can't do with my Rolex pieces. In my opinion Smiths is 36mm perfection.

So if an homage is okay the Smiths Everest is doubly okay as it is seems to be a sort of homage of an homage.

I think I prefer the look of the other Everest by Timefactors, the Expedition, on an Oyster bracelet.

Timefactors Smiths Everest Expedition Ca. 2022

Smiths Deluxe A409 Ca. 1953 - reputedly the real Everest watch.

Good review Max

Had a look online and it is a good looking watch but maybe too small for me... not that I'm a big person but 36mm seems small

I thought 36mm was going to be too small for me too but the more I wear mine the more I love it. Makes my 40mm watches seem huge in comparison after having worn it for a while.

(7inch wrist - photo makes it seem larger than it is)

Decent for the price point but the movement should have been the sw200. They were not going for budget and missed mid tier quality.The NH series and the 82xx series are entry level while the 9 series is not a big leap.

Reminds me of my 10 year old son's reaction to my Seiko Arnie:

Me: "Isn't this cool son? It's the watch Arnold Schwarzenegger wore!" 

Him: "Wow! Like, his actual watch?!"

Me:"Well.... no... not his actual watch..."

Him:

.... kinda see his point.... 🙄

down for dinner if you are paying 🤪

Seiko mods are fun but you'll never get this level of finishing, and the off the shelf seiko movements are much too thick.

Ooo, this is one of my favs from the site!

LOL, I hear you on the heritage part.  I haven't gotten there yet and am a sucker for the replicas. It got me into the hobby with my Speedy Pro (worn on the moon, I mean replica of the one worn on the moon with a different movement but pretty much the same case).

Crap, I even picked up the Tudor GMT because it was a homage of the Rolex GMTs also worn by many Apollo astronauts (aluminum bezel, smaller loom plots/ crap, there I go again). So it's a homage and a replica with a brand, once removed.

Now off to look at the Glycine Airman (worn in space by an Apollo astronaut but now owned by Invicta) and the Hamilton Khaki (tenuous but traceable link to WW2 watches but moved to Switzerland after Swatch bought them). 

Yep , I like the Smith's brand and the watch is nice. Just to difficult to get hold of for me to be bothered with.

I’ve said this so many times, but it falls on deaf ears, you want the real deal for Smiths with the Made in England dial and the Cheltenham-made movement. Why? Because it’s a guaranteed beautiful watch with an excellent mechanical movement. Do you have to pay £££ for one - yes, but that’s because they are highly collectible, well-made, and still serviceable. Doesn‘t even have to be a de Luxe, there are Smiths military, Smiths, Smiths National and Smiths Astral that will get you the same heritage and quality.

Timefactors are not Smiths. Smiths folded in 1979. Just because you buy the name doesn’t mean you buy the heritage and the reverence it carries. Don’t care if these say Smiths on the dial, they are NOT Smiths watches. It’s not even an homage, it’s a zombie brand which gives zero f***s about its history by pumping out homages to Rolexes and other random watches like a glorified Pagani Design or San Martin.

This is a proper Smiths. You would enjoy wearing this so much more.

I’ll just copy and paste what I wrote on the other thread:

”I mean…it’s quite a funny story. A guy buys the rights to a company that had the first watch on the top of Everest…and puts this name on a copy to a watch that was an homage to the watch that was supposed to be the first watch on the top of Everest…”

i pretty much like the irony in it, but at the end of the day all that it is, is a cash grab copy. 

Left a similar youtube comment but basically this is the Explorer version of Invicta. Just more niche.

Never saw one in person, but what I see on internet doesn’t motivate me to buy one. If looking for a explorer alternative, I would buy a Sinn 556.

I know there is no direct comparison, but I am thinking a lot about buying a CWC G10 lately: great field watch, heritage, real deal, dirt cheap, quartz ( which totally makes sense for a sub 500 $ watch) 

Not all G10s are created equally - the Falklands issued Fatboys are very expensive (£450), and the prices of standard issued G10s are rising all the time. If you want one, I would recommend not waiting too long because they are already around the £200 mark.

@Omeganut If you come back from this dinner, and say "my friend helped me find this Smith's watch", and we don't get a new video from Max for a few weeks, I am calling the Police!

Nais 👌 But that is the SM "36mm" right? Det vintage homage only comes in 39mm 💔

It’s 37. I measured it

Well said that man!

https://www.regimentalshop.com/collections/g10-watches/products/9-12-royal-lancers-regimental-watch

i think its £99.00 whatever that is but its quartz and the straps are british regimental colors

I’m talking legit issued CWC G10s. Military issued, squaddie-worn. You can get homages for peanuts, but if you want a good one go for the Cooper Pathfinder.

I've owned the Smiths Everest Expedition....I found the legibility lacking in low light conditions.....if the arabics were filled in it would have worked out better for me. since that's essentially my universe it was a catch and release for me 

It needs to be said. It needs to be stressed very hard that they are nothing to do with the original name, and the original brand is not some passing footnote, they were a heavyweight British watch manufacturer that supplied the military post WWII up to the late 70s and could make a damn fine watch. A vintage Smiths with a Cheltenham-made movement is an excellent vintage purchase, you would do well to find one and keep it maintained.

Plus there is the bullshit lottery for purchase and the terrible customer service, all this for watches that seem to want to emulate models that the original Smiths didn‘t even make, or others made to challenge them. It makes no sense. I might as well buy the Gruen name and make digital watches.

Also, genuine concern that the poor customer service from the Timefactors brand is basically just being swept under the carpet here. Are we legitimising bad practice now if you make a decent enough homage? Shouldn’t we be calling this sort of thing out more?

Spot on!

Good to hear more people realizing that we can no longer support bad customer experience practices. No matter how good we think the watch is. And here's one single person to blame and, of course, not an isolated experience.

I think it’s a given, but too many reviewers or content providers just don’t bother to address anything negative. This one wasn‘t even purchased from Timefactors, so just avoids the issues altogether as it didn’t involve this weird purchase process we keep hearing about, or the lovely customer service. How is this a balanced view? I might as well review your watch that I see on your wrist without even touching or wearing it - it looks good on you therefore it must be good right? Well done, 5/5.
 

I agree. We need more reviewers addressing the elephant in the room or it might seem we're legitimating bully like behavior. Kudos!

At the risk of this turning into some sort of love-in, your YouTube review was very informative, and the comments section was teeming with similar stories. I cannot believe that he got annoyed with you for fiddling with the strap when he provided you with an additional strap - like what were you supposed to do with it? 😂