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The Encyclopedia of Horology

Marine chronometer · England

John Arnold Marine Chronometers (representative series)

Partially verified

Arnold's chronometers, alongside Earnshaw's, established the spring-detent escapement and bimetallic compensation balance as the practical basis of marine timekeeping.

Technical facts

Escapement
Spring detent (chronometer escapement)
Compensation
Bimetallic compensation balance
Case
Brass-bound wooden box with gimbal mounting, typical of marine chronometer practice

Historical significance

  • Arnold's chronometers, alongside Earnshaw's, established the spring-detent escapement and bimetallic compensation balance as the practical basis of marine timekeeping.
  • As with the Waltham railroad grades, this entry describes a representative production family rather than a single uniquely famous object; specific numbered examples (several are held by the National Maritime Museum) each need individual provenance research.

Related photographs

Description of the Le Roy detent escapement mechanism 14 August 1748
Description of the Le Roy detent escapement mechanism 14 August 1748 — Academie des Sciences, France 14 August 1748, Public domain. Wikimedia Commons file page
British Museum Marine Chronometer 1
British Museum Marine Chronometer 1 — Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)., CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikimedia Commons file page
Diagram of the chronometer detent escapement Britten's Clock and Watchmaker's Handbook 9th Edition 1896
Diagram of the chronometer detent escapement Britten's Clock and Watchmaker's Handbook 9th Edition 1896 — F.J. Britten, Public domain. Wikimedia Commons file page

No confidently matched photograph of this subject has been found yet. These photographs show a closely related record, and are not examples of the type described on this page.

Sources & references

  1. Betts, J., Arnold & Earnshaw: The Practicable Marine Chronometer (National Maritime Museum)

Where sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than resolved silently.