At the end of the 19th and in the beginning of the 20th century - a period of general decline for British horology - a few British watchmakers created magnificent, ultra-complicated watches, as if to proof to the world, that they were still the best. Some of these watches were made in collaboration with the best Swiss watch companies. Three of these British watchmakers were from London: Charles Frodsham, Edward John Dent, and Samuel Smith. One was from Coventry: J. W. Player. The present watch falls into this category. It is not only a complicated one but also adjusted as for observatory trials. It has divided lift ? very rarely found in British watches - a very rare triple overcoiled free-sprung balance spring and a large balance with wings for poising in the raw. This precision of adjustment combined with its complications make this watch exceptionally fine and rare. S. Smith & Son The leading London firm for high quality and complicated watches at the end of the 19th Century and during the opening decades of the 20th, was founded by Samuel Smith, jeweler and watchmaker, c. 1851. Watches were made for him by Nicole Nielsen. Alongside the wide range of civilian watches and clocks, Smith's also made chronometers which performed well and made the firm a supplier to the Admiralty. Under the guidance of Herbert S.A. Smith, the firm developed into a large manufacturing company with its own research laboratories, the family succession being continued a further generation by Sir Alan Herbert Smith, with the company going on to make automobile and aircraft instruments alongside clocks and watches.