Precision Springs

Precision Springs

Founded as an Important part of the giant S. Smith & Sons (England) Limited group of companies, British Precision Springs Limited, developed from the vast engineering resources of Smiths Industries, the worlds largest combined manufacturer of clocks and watches and aviation, motor vehicle, marine and industrial instruments during the mid 20th Century.

The highly skilled and experienced metallurgists and engineers designed and produced the worlds widest range of springs to meet every varied requirement within the Horological and Instrument fields.

The Specialist factory of British Precision Springs Limited, was established at Bishops Cleeve, near Cheltenam, in 1938 to meet Government requirements for precision springs.

In this capacity British Precision Springs made a major contribution to the War effort.

Between 1938 and the mid 1960 production of hairsprings expanded more that a hundred-fold.
Due to the constant introduction of the latest manufacturing techniques the factory was able to meet a very high percentage of all United Kingdom requirements; gaining worldwide reputation and distribution.

During the early 1970s hairspring production began to slow down with the latter half of the seventies seeing the decline of clock and watch manufacturing by all European and British companies as they were unable to compete with lower cost quartz products offered by makers in the Far East.

In 1977 Smiths Industries undertook a major restructure of its clock and watch division, forming two separate companies, Smiths Industries Clock Co. and Smiths Industries Watch Co, at the same accepting an offer of a management buy out for the British Precision Spring Company.

British precision Springs and its team of vastly experienced engineers moved premises and renamed themselves (Instrument Precision Springs), realizing that the correct functioning and accuracy of millions of clocks, watches, and highly technical instruments of many kinds depended of the products and services offered by the former British Precision Springs

The company was successfully carried forward into the late 1980s by which time the original team of Smiths engineers and managers were now entering their golden years, and decided it was time to relinquish the reigns of their treasured company

As One of the countries leading Automotive Instrument repairers, and having maintained a close relationship with the Smiths Industries company since the 1950s, Speedograph Richfield realized the importance of keeping such a unique company in existence, and carrying it forward into the 21st Century, not only to supply hairsprings for their own requirements but to supply the many horologists, scientific instrument makers and aerospace engineers throughout the world today.

British Precision Springs along with all of its specialist equipment, drawings and vast stocks of springs and assemblies are now located at Speedograph Richfield’s Nottingham Site, where hairsprings of all types and specifications are manufactered today to the same exacting standards.