Accessories
Created Monday 14 October 2024
Watch Chains
N C Reading & Co Ltd.
ALBO NCR
Albo was registered in 1885. The substrate is 7-11% nickel, 20-24% zinc, the balance being copper. Albo Silver was registered in 1886. The substrate is 15-19% nickel, 19-23% zinc, the balance being copper, with a cladding of silver.
Factory in: Warstone Lane
Birmingham (West Midlands): Warstone Lane
52.4873N -1.9106W
N C Reading & Co Ltd
primary name: N C Reading & Co Ltd
Details
organisation; manufacturer/factory; British
Other dates
1847-1982 (moved out of Jewellery Quarter to new premises, still trading)
Address
186-187 Warstone Lane, Birmingham
Biography
Firm of Jewellers founded by John Reading (1790-1862) in 1847 as a chain making workshop in Spencer Street, Birmingham. After his death, the business was carried on by his son, Walter Reading. On his death in 1868 control passed to his son and daughter, Nathaniel Cracknell Reading and Agnes Blackwell, who ran the firm as a partnership from 1869-1876, when Agnes retired. Her husband Althous Blackwell was a partner until at least 1925.
N.C. Reading was a founder member of the Birmingham Jeweller's and Silversmith's Association and its treasurer from 1896 until 1901. He died in 1924.
By the early 1870s the firm had moved to 186-187 Warstone Lane and in 1900 a three-storey model factory was opened in Hall Street. In 1982 the firm moved out of the jewellery quarter to a new factory in Ward Street. At that time the company records were given to Birmingham Public Library, sample boards of die stamped parts were given to Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery and chain-making machines were given to the Birmingham Museum of Science and Industry.
Cost: 9.00 value: £60.00
"From my grandmas collection when she was a nurse in the 40s."
Straps
NATO
The 6B/2617 was the first nylon NATO strap issued in 1954 for the RAF Mk11 navigator watch, the 6B/346. 6B/xxx was the stores code for RAF equipment.
The next evolution of nylon straps was the RAF style pull through strap as shown on the Rolex Submariner ref 6538 watch of James Bond in Goldfinger in 1963. This was a 16mm wide nylon strap in the colours of the Royal Scots Regiment at the time. (The 9 stripe colour scheme is dark oxford blue, peony red and gosling green).
The Birth of the G10 Strap
In 1973, however, the British Ministry of Defence Standard (DefStan) 66-15 featured, for the first time, a simple, gray, nylon strap identified only as, “Strap, Wrist Watch”. A soldier need only fill out his Form G1098 or “G10” for short and pick up his new strap at the unit’s supply store of the same name. And thus, the “G10 Strap” was born.
The G10 strap proved genius in its simplicity, the double-segmented design with one loop securing to the other acts as a failsafe ensuring even if broken or torn, the wearer retain the watch itself. British soldiers, ever proud, (and rightfully so), bored of the simple ‘Admiralty Gray’ band, and began wearing custom, personally purchased striped straps in their regimental colours as a nod to their lineage. These simple designs offered an opportunity for esprit de corps – and the rest is, as they say; history.
Since that time, the G10 strap itself has seen little change, (except in its width and hardware). In its official form, it has since become available through the NATO Stock Number system, to which we can owe its now more popular name; the “NATO strap”.
Haveston
86 Hall Lane, West Winch, King's Lynn, Norfolk, England, PE33 0QF
Corp canvas M-1944C for Hamilton
A rugged cotton canvas strap based on the shade ref. OD No.7 found in US field equipment in 1944 service.
Features a late-war vintage military Olive Green base with matching stitching.
The M-1944C Canvas strap pairs excellently with Field and Pilot pieces as well as with monotone dial designs.
Leather
Horween Full Grain Natural Tan Leather 22mm For Seiko
Badalassi Carlo 20mm Full Grain Italian Brown Leather For Citizen
Horween Full Grain Natural Tan Leather 18mm For Smiths
TomCryerLeather
Cornish Made Leather Goods
Backlinks: Watches:Smiths
If you have a comment or suggestion, please use the form on the contact page.