PASTIME
Marine timekeeper, H1 – the first experimental marine timekeeper made by John Harrison between 1730 and 1735 as a first step towards solving the longitude problem and winning the great £20,000 prize offered by the British Government
just about time, but about accurate time keeping – and he worked for the stretch of his long life on achieving the accurate measurement of time.
The implications of Harrison’s work are just as potent today as they were 250 years ago. Chris Ward is himself inspired by John Harrison, both as an individual and as a watchmaker. “Apart from the navigational breakthrough, in the history of watches the ship’s chronometer was revolutionary in that it made accurate time keeping portable. “This had implications for the development of pocket watches right into the 20th century. Watches became increasingly smaller and were
eventually small enough to be switched from pockets to wrists – an important practical and functional
development that was only properly used for the first time by pilots in the First World War,” Chris says. By the early 18th century, such was felt to be the urgency of the problem of navigation –and it’s implications for trade as well as the loss of life – that the British Parliament passed The Longitude Act in 1714. In effect this was a competition and challenge to the science community to come up with an answer. The Act had a substantial £20,000 prize attached to it – that was a great fortune at the time and equivalent to something in the order of £3 million today.
Harrison was never treated well
by the science establishment or by the Board of Longitude set up by Parliament to administer the Act. He was never awarded the whole £20,000, but given grants and awards piecemeal. But he has nonetheless gone down in history as the inventor of the Ship’s Chronometer that revolutionised navigation. He did have supporters. Clockmaker George Graham, to whom Harrison first showed his concept in 1728, supported him financially so that he could develop his ideas, and Astronomer Royal
C9 Harrison GMT Automatic The definitive Harrison watch has to be the glorious GMT version with dual-time functionality that is closest in spirit to John Harrison’s revolutionary timepiece. The C9 GMT has at its core the exceptional ETA 2893-2 automatic movement that is clearly visible through the transparent exhibition case back.
C9 GMT SST £450.00
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www.christopherward.co.uk
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