102nd Auction
2020/6/29
Lot 112
John Arnold, London, Invt. et Fecit, Movement No. 38, 61 mm, 171 g, circa 1778
An important and early pocket chronometer with spring detent escapement - "OF THE BEST QUALITY"
Case: silver. Dial: enamel. Movm.: full plate movement, Arnold's spring detent escapement, OZ balance, blued helical balance spring, very finely engraved pierced balance cock.
Hans Staeger's comments on the subject:
Unlike the 1/36, this chronometer does not have the slash yet and originally used Arnold’s pivoted detent escapement; most likely Arnold set it into a new consular case in the early 1780s and at the same time fitted it with a spring escapement and an OZ balance.
Illustrated and described in: "100 Jahre Präzisionsuhren von John Arnold bis Arnold & Frodsham 1763-1862" (100 years of precision clocks, John Arnold to Arnold & Frodsham 1763-1862), by Hans Staeger, Filderstadt 1997, p. 127f.
John Arnold (1736-1799)
After his apprenticeship with his father in Cornwall, John Arnold settled in London in 1760. In 1764 he presented King George III with a half quarter repeating cylinder watch mounted in a ring. By the time he was 28, Arnold's watches, be they verge or cylinder, displayed interesting original components such as straight-line compensation curbs and minute repeating by increments of 10 minutes (instead of the more common 15 minutes). Around 1768 Arnold began his research into marine chronometers. He established himself at 2 Adam Street, Adelphi Buildings, Strand, in 1771 and carried out most of his research into marine chronometers here over the next eleven years. By 1774 Arnold had constructed a marine chronometer with pivoted detents; he invented terminal curves for the cylindrical balance spring in 1776 and included this construction in the patent for a bimetallic compensated balance he took out in 1782. He subsequently devised numerous different balances such as the Double T, Double S, Z, O-Z and U. Arnold, who was admitted to the Clockmakers' Company in 1783, was the first to employ the term chronometer in the modern sense and to successfully find a way to simplify Harrison's timekeeper design. In 1787 he took his son, John Roger Arnold, into partnership and changed the business name to "Arnold & Son", which it retained until his death.
An important and early pocket chronometer with spring detent escapement - "OF THE BEST QUALITY"
Case: silver. Dial: enamel. Movm.: full plate movement, Arnold's spring detent escapement, OZ balance, blued helical balance spring, very finely engraved pierced balance cock.
Hans Staeger's comments on the subject:
Unlike the 1/36, this chronometer does not have the slash yet and originally used Arnold’s pivoted detent escapement; most likely Arnold set it into a new consular case in the early 1780s and at the same time fitted it with a spring escapement and an OZ balance.
Illustrated and described in: "100 Jahre Präzisionsuhren von John Arnold bis Arnold & Frodsham 1763-1862" (100 years of precision clocks, John Arnold to Arnold & Frodsham 1763-1862), by Hans Staeger, Filderstadt 1997, p. 127f.
John Arnold (1736-1799)
After his apprenticeship with his father in Cornwall, John Arnold settled in London in 1760. In 1764 he presented King George III with a half quarter repeating cylinder watch mounted in a ring. By the time he was 28, Arnold's watches, be they verge or cylinder, displayed interesting original components such as straight-line compensation curbs and minute repeating by increments of 10 minutes (instead of the more common 15 minutes). Around 1768 Arnold began his research into marine chronometers. He established himself at 2 Adam Street, Adelphi Buildings, Strand, in 1771 and carried out most of his research into marine chronometers here over the next eleven years. By 1774 Arnold had constructed a marine chronometer with pivoted detents; he invented terminal curves for the cylindrical balance spring in 1776 and included this construction in the patent for a bimetallic compensated balance he took out in 1782. He subsequently devised numerous different balances such as the Double T, Double S, Z, O-Z and U. Arnold, who was admitted to the Clockmakers' Company in 1783, was the first to employ the term chronometer in the modern sense and to successfully find a way to simplify Harrison's timekeeper design. In 1787 he took his son, John Roger Arnold, into partnership and changed the business name to "Arnold & Son", which it retained until his death.
Sold
estimated
37.000—50.000 €
Price realized
43.800 €