So how about the positive case? This is simpler and requires a lot less typing.

I'll start with a simplifying assumption. Given that there is already solid written evidence that Hillary wore a Smiths A409 on the summit of Everest, a watch he gave to the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers and which has been in their collection ever since, I'll take that as a given. The question is what Norgay is wearing, as he is traditionally the person who wore a Rolex on the summit. I hope any reader is now clear that he didn't and so the question is what he wore.

The fortunate fact is that while the Rolex 6098 and the Smiths A409 are both about the same size and both have off white dials they are actually quite distinct watches.

Looking at the two from the side and an angle note the way that the Rolex lugs have far more curve and taper to almost a point while the Smiths is blunt. Also note the way the light reflects of the polished sides of the Rolex and the brushed sides of the Smiths.


Here's Alfred Gregory's Rolex from directly ahead:



And here's Hillary's A409:



Here's a deliberately fuzzed up picture of my Smiths and Rolex that are closest to these two:



And, moving a step further, here's the two in exactly the sort of grainy picture that forms the main body of the RGS archives:


I assume that, looking at the wrists of Charles Wylie, when he is wearing both it is clear that the Smiths is on the left of the picture, that is, his right hand and the Rolex is to the right of the picture.

So, I hope that's a satisfactory introduction to the sorts of differences between the two watches that are potentially going to be obvious in a grainy picture. I'm not intending to claim that any single photograph is, of itself a smoking gun. What I want to argue is that there is a single watch worn by Tenzing while on Everest and it's possible to establish a connection between all the watches based upon the rather specific bamboo style bracelet it is attached to.

Take this picture:



Now this is just at the point where it could be either. However what is more interesting is the way that the bracelet is hanging. About five rungs down you can see an odd change in shape. Now I'm just sad enough to have a fair few of these Bonklip style 'bamboo' bracelets and so I worked my way through my collection until I found one that hung just right, like so:



It just so happens it's the standard bracelet for a West End Watch co watch, fitted to their 'Sowar' range. these were standard issue to the Indian Army from the late thirties onwards. Tenzing served in the British Indian Army's Mountain artillery during WWII (as a batman). While West End are largely unheard of in the West that is precisely because they focussed on the East. They used a variation of the Taubert decagon case and are remarkably robust.

So now there's a specific bracelet linking all the irritatingly blurry images in which it features. And that's rather a lot. From early in the expedition:



Close up:



to the moment they set off for the summit:



Sometimes one feature is obvious, in this case the brushed finish:



In another the way the lug joins the case:



It's perfectly true that it isn't always obvious that it's the A409 or the bracelet, but in the pictures I've shown it's obvious that it's one or the other. Now it's possible that Norgay had two watches both on a West End bracelet and just by coincidence he was always wearing the other one in the picture where it isn't clear, but that seems increasingly unlikely the more images from the expedition you look at.







Which brings me to as close as I'm going to get to a smoking gun:





Compare this to Hillary's watch in The Science Museum:



That's it really. When I look at the totality of the images I'm left quite certain that the watch in question is a Smiths A409 worn loosely on a bamboo bracelet sometimes it looks larger or smaller but when you think about it, it isn't. I think the case for what wasn't worn is bulletproof, but the case for what was really worn comes down to what you see. To me, that looks clear and obvious. but that's about as good as it gets I'm afraid.

Finally, just to demonstrate the difference, Here are the pictures of Evans and Bourdillon immediately after their return to the South Col:





If they hadn't decided to change their cylinders early and got ice in Evan's system, these would probably be the smoking gun for Rolex...

But if you really can't get enough Everest, there's always this:

http://www.dreamwanderlust.com/artic...-2017-20170529