Perhaps have a look on ebay.
Yes, I read that book some years ago, excellent. Think it was dramatised on TV as well. Think my wife read it first.
Edit: Not sure her name was Dave. Lol.
Hello, Roog, I hope that you wonāt think me presumptuous if I say that you should investigate the life and work of the great clockmaker John Harrison. If you know about him, please accept my apologies and please ignore what follows. If not, let me try to summarise brieflyā¦
Harrison came to fame in the late Seventeenth Century (I hope that Iāve got that date right) as the solver of āthe longitude problemā). At that time, ship.s captains could work out their latitude at sea fairly exactly by taking readings of the sun above the horizon and checking printed calculations, maps, etc, using compasses and sextants, etc. But they had no means of ascertaining their latitude at sea, so ships became hopelessly lost, and the ships, their crews and their cargoes were dashed against rocks and sank and the crews drowned.
The problem became so bad that the UK Parliament offered Ā£20,00 - then a vast sum - to anyone who could solve what became known as āThe Longitude Problemā. Any number of weird and wonderful means of ascertaining longitude were suggested (one particularly macabre - and futile - proposal involved cutting dogsā throats, I donāt know why).
John Harrison was a Yorkshire church tower clockmaker, whose original designs were constructed from wood. He realised that, if a shipās captain knew what time of day it was, he could work out the longitude of his ship (you will recall that units of latitudes are broken down into degrees, then subdivided into minutes and seconds).
Anyway, thereās a lot more background, but the crux of the story is that Harrison spent the next 30-odd years designing what became known as āmarine chronometersā. He made four, which have come to be known as H1, H2, H3 and H4.
The first three look like massively over-engineered carriage clocks, made from brass, steel and goodness knows what else, hypnotic to look at, in glass cases, with gimbals, flywheels and goodness knows what else in constant motion. All three (H1, H2 and H3) were very good clocks, each better than its predecessor, but none of the three could attain the accuracy required to win the Prize. Each was about two feet tall.
H4, however, was extraordinary. It looks like nothing else that had ever been made at the time, like (in all truth) a massively over-engineered, 9 or 10 inch diameter pocket watch. Spectacularly lovely, and genuinely priceless. Long story short, it met the specifications, and many exact copies were made. Sadly. and not for the first time, Parliament came up with all sorts of excuse not to pay, and Harrison died a pauper years after his chronometers were standard issue in the Royal Navy.
You will obviously find photographs of all four of Harrisonās beautiful clocks on the web.
BUT, very excitingly, the original H1, H2, H3 and H4 can be seen, secured inside glass security cases at the Greenwich Maritime Museum in London. Genuinely and literally priceless and very well worth a trip to see when you are next in London.
You can also read a wonderful 200-odd page book about Harrison and his chronometers. Written by a lady named Dave Sobell, it is called, simply and appropriately, āLongitudeā. Itās a truly fascinating read.
HELLO, RICHARD DANE
This corrected version of my (rather long) contribution became detached from the thread, but an uncorrected version is still in place in the thread.
I have no idea how I managed (inadvertently) to do that. I certainly donāt think that I could do it again. Would you be so kind as to delete the (less corrected) other one, and substitute this. Sorry to be a pain.
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The Harrison story really is a cool one, full of technological āreligious warsā (it was actually the Astronomer Royal, Halley, and the Board of Longitude (!) who blocked payment of the prize as they favoured a celestial clock over a mechanical one), arduous adventures in experimental physics (testing the accuracy of the going rate involved logging the time of the Transit of Venus at various exotic locations, including an observatory in Tahiti built by James Cook), and inspirational engineering (one aspect of Harrisonās success at sea was the use of lignum vitae, a naturally greasy wood, for some of the bearing surfaces). Iām pretty sure there was a BBC film or series about this story, inspired in part by Sobelās book āLongitudeā.
The book by Dava Sobel is excellent and dear to my heart. When I had the privilege of serving as Director of the BIPM Metrology Summer School in 2007 or thereabouts, I invited her to participate and give a plenary lecture to the group. She was charming and approachable, very engaged. We had her lecture in the fabulous Cassini room at the Paris Observatory (where the observations to establish the Paris Meridian were taken)ā¦ and she began by telling us that the last time she had been in the hall were in the sad days when Pluto was ādemotedā. We gifted a copy of her book to each of the students, and Ms Sobel graciously autographed them for everyone who desiredā¦ which is to say, everyone!
There is an equally amazing story about the discovery of the clocks, in bits and pieces and completely unloved and un-cared for, in a storage room in the basement at Greenwich, and the therapeutic exercise of their restoration and subsequent display by LtCmdr Rupert Gould, who suffered greatly from what is now known to be PTSD from his experiences in WWI. The original notes and letters are pretty fascinating reading in their own right, as an exercise in astonishing reverse engineering and jigsaw puzzle solving.
TL;DR - go visit the museum at Greenwich, be inspired, read all about one of the early āglobal scientific challengesā, and enjoy your wrist watch even more!!!
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I guess no thread on mechanical watches would be complete without mention of George Daniels who mastered all the trades to complete a watch entirely by hand, including movement, case and dial. He completed 27 watches (not including prototypes) and invented the co-axial escapement which is used in high-end omegas. https://www.danielslondon.com
Roger W Smith was his protege and carries on the tradition of hand made watches from scratch. He makes about 10 a year. https://www.rwsmithwatches.com
I saw Roger Smith naturally wearing one of his own watches when he visited Birmingham City University a few years ago to receive an hon. doc. He has hosted placements for horology students. Iām not a watchmaker, but I appreciate precision engineering when I see it. My own taste in mechanical watches is adjusted to my budget but like Naimās Statement, Iām glad these things exist.
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Excellent post Alan. Thereās a fine collection of clocks and watches in rooms 38-39 in the British Museum too. Best to pre-book to ensure these rooms are open. Many are working too.
Derek
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Thank you @graham55 it is an amazing story, I recall hearing about it loosely in Geography at school, I find it historically interesting that back then finding your location in the vertical was manageable but that East to West was so much more of a challenge.
I have seen his clocks at the Greenwich Maritime Museum and marveled at their beauty. Thank you for your post.
I was also quite taken by the fancy metal ball āraceā clocks which I donāt suppose had any use navigationally speaking.
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A clock maker Jake Sutton has made versions of John Harrisonās Grasshopper Escapement - which he illustrates with videos. https://www.jsuttonclockmaker.com/grasshopper-escapement
Not quite as fascinating as the real thing, but an insight into the process.
We might want to mention Breguet before George Daniels 
But regarding Roger Smith, nice to hear heās finally wearing one of his own. For years he was wearing a Rolex because he would always sell his (itās actually not a one-man business like George Daniel, he does employ people) limited production and not have time to make one for himself.
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The English history of watchmaking is often forgotten. I might have mentioned Thomas Tompion, George Graham and Thomas Mudge. But Breguet is certainly a fine watchmaker and we are indebted to him for the tourbillion complication. And Breguet hands. The name lives on in the Swatch group.
Roger Smith runs an artisan shop, but he did make his first watches entirely by hand to satisfy, or not, Daniels.
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Found this
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Harrisonās chronometers are a great sight āin the fleshā at Greenwich. A much more recent English horological achievement and item of interest is the Corpus āchronophageā clock on permanent public display in Cambridge:
When youāve seen that, nip up Beneāt Street and take a right down Free School Lane to see the building of the Old Cavendish Laboratory where an extraordinary number of scientific discoveries were made, including Thomsonās measurements of what we now call electrons, without which we might not have our Naim kit today.
Mark
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Double post
Thought I would report back following your Sept 2 post.
I bought my new watch in mid August. It ran nearly spot on for a week, then it started to slow up bit by bit. Having spoken to a couple of folk and read up, I understand that most new watches slow up when new and then settle down. Mine settled down at minus 11 seconds per day which was just enough to be irritating.
Last week I took it in to Worcesterās oldest Jewelers who have an inhouse watchmaker who has been there for years. ( Iām sure you know the shop I mean being a Worcestershire guy). He put it on his Timegrapher and told me it was loosing 11 seconds a day. I said I know that. He said that many watch manufacturers set watches at plus 10 seconds when they leave the factory to allow for a settling in period. He said come back in a hour, which I did, and they charged me Ā£10.
I last reset it at about 5pm last Sunday, which I have been doing most weeks. I just took the attached photo, I am completely amazed. It seems to lose a fraction when worn, then catches it back up overnight when face up.
I understand that often quite a lot of the cost of a new mechanical watch is the time and effort taken to adjust and regulate it, which is just not possible with lower price points.
Really pleased to have a mechanical watch after years of quartz, really enjoying it.
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Iām glad you are enjoying your mechanical watch. I know the shop in Worcester, though I resist spending much money there. Ā£10 for the timegrapher and subtle regulation is more than reasonable, I think. You could time it over a month losing a fraction each day and catching up face up at night. Just for interest as no mechanical watch is as accurate as quartz. But the positions and a bit of regulation with a skilled hand has done well in 5 days. It is interesting that some very expensive watches use these movements, though sometimes they refinish them or add a swan neck regulator. Thanks for letting us know the outcome.
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This will sound odd, but give it a try.
Most mechanical watches will gain or lose time differently, depending upon whether they are left āface upā or āface downā overnight. I donāt know why that should be so, but it is - honest! I read about it in some Rolex ābumffā years ago.
Give it a try, and see if it makes a difference with your own watch. You have nothing to lose - oh well, perhaps you may lose a few seconds.
I know that my Rolex gains about a minute per week. which I can live with, and I tend not to take my watch off at night these days, especially as Iām away from home at the moment.
Also try crown up and crown down when left on its side.
Losing less than a second over a week is fairly unbelievable for a mechanical watch
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