1785929390Code 8575 Rare ChronometerRare onboard chronometer signed Whyte, Thomson & Co., Makers to the Admiralty, 144 Broomielaw, Glasgow, number 4492, housed in its beautiful original three-tiered rosewood veneered case with ebony edge purfling and brass side reinforcements/corner guards. Dating to the second half of the 19th century, after 1886, and equipped with a high-precision movement with a 56-hour power reserve.
Good condition, fully functional.
Dimensions: 17.8 x 17.8 x 19.4 cm – 7 x 7 x 7.7 in.
An elegant three-tier box with a double lid (with glass viewing window); the hinges, concealed handles, and corner guards are made of brass, as is the famous Bramah safety lock and its original key.
Above the lock is a circular marine ivory plaque engraved with the inscription "Whyte, Thomson & Co., Makers to the Admiralty, Glasgow," while below the lock is a second plaque bearing the serial number 4492.
The chronometer is housed inside, mounted on a brass gimbal that can be locked with a special lever. The movement is enclosed in a cylindrical brass case. The 56-hour power reserve is powered by the original key provided.
The dial is silver-plated, with Roman numerals for the hours, gold hour and minute hands, and burnished steel hands for the subdials. The seconds are indicated by the subdial at 6 o'clock, also bearing the serial number 4492, while the subdial at 12 o'clock indicates the power reserve (Down/Up).
On either side of the power reserve dial are engraved two red enamel medallions commemorating the awards won at the famous Edinburgh International Exhibition of 1886. The left medallion bears the inscription "HIGHEST AWARD EDIN. 1886" surmounted by a royal crown, indicating the highest overall recognition—First Prize and Diploma of Honor—awarded for the precision of its navigation instruments.
The right medallion bears the inscription "SILVER MEDAL AWARD 1886" surmounted by a royal crown, certifying the award of the Silver Medal in the category of merit for marine chronometry.
The lock is signed S. Mordan London, a company founded in 1815 by Sampson Mordan, Joseph Bramah's best student, famous for inventing and creating the first high-security lock in history.
Using the skills he learned from Bramah, Mordan produced locks of the highest precision and security, renowned for being impossible to pick or duplicate using wax casts.
Both leading watchmakers and renowned case manufacturers turned almost exclusively to S. Mordan & Co. for the locks and brass hardware for their mahogany and rosewood chronometer cases.
Since these were highly precise instruments intended for military and merchant navigation, a Mordan lock ensured a hermetic and secure seal, protecting the instrument from shocks and unauthorized access.
At the beginning of the 18th century, the problem of navigation, particularly the calculation of longitude—that is, the distance along a parallel from a reference meridian and therefore the determination of a ship's position—posed one of the greatest difficulties for navigators. To the eyes of eighteenth-century man, the world looked very different from what atlases, globes, and satellite images have made us familiar, and countless commanders and their sailors lost their lives due to navigational errors that caused ships to crash into coasts that, according to erroneous calculations, should not have been there. The nautical chronometer was invented after years of study and experimentation by John Harrison (1693–1776) and represented one of the greatest technological achievements of all time: the possibility of having an onboard clock capable of precisely indicating the time of the reference meridian finally made it possible to solve the problem of calculating longitude at sea. By the 15th century, with the development of ocean navigation and the great geographical discoveries, world trade had received an enormous boost, making safe navigation a vital necessity for all seafaring nations; however, it would take more than two centuries to reach a definitive and reliable solution to the problem.
Chronometer production followed a slow but steady growth: the first Harrison model dates back to 1737 and was not tested at sea until 1763.
In 1859, England owned 750: 610 on board, 80 under repair, and 60 delivered. By 1889, production reached approximately 300 pieces per year.
France owned two in 1768, while by 1832 it had 143.
The first American chronometer was not produced until 1942. During World War II, the United States decided to launch mass production through Hamilton and Elgin Watch Co., under license from the Swiss company Ulysse Nardin. In just one month, more chronometers were built than were produced in the entire world in a year. In 1942, 8,902 were delivered to the Navy, 1,500 to the Naval Commission, 500 to the Army and Air Force, and 2,170 to the navies of other nations.
