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The Encyclopedia of Horology

Marine chronometer · France, Marseilles

E. Barthet marine chronometer No. 10

Partially verified

Science Museum Group catalogues this chronometer as L2015-3496, historical Clockmakers’ Museum number 620. Its silvered dial has a central minute hand, subsidiary hours and seconds, and a thermometer marked for the Réaumur scale.

Technical facts

Object number
L2015-3496
Historical museum number
620
Dial signature
E Barthet A Marseille No 10
Duration
30 hours, as catalogued
Escapement
Spring detent
Thermometer
Réaumur scale
Overall dimensions
148 × 160 × 165 mm, as catalogued

Historical significance

  • Science Museum Group catalogues this chronometer as L2015-3496, historical Clockmakers’ Museum number 620. Its silvered dial has a central minute hand, subsidiary hours and seconds, and a thermometer marked for the Réaumur scale.
  • The catalogue describes a 30-hour fusee movement with double links to its chain, a spring-detent escapement with endwise adjustment, a two-arm compensation balance and a spherical-shaped balance spring.
  • According to the museum account, Sir William Walker recovered it from an abandoned ship in 1846 while commanding Monarch. The account records subsequent purchase by Brockbanks & Atkins and presentation by Samuel Elliot Atkins in 1875; the underlying contemporary documents were not examined here.
  • Three exact views show its gimballed wooden box, removed canister and exposed movement. They document visible arrangements, not working performance.
  • Current operation, service history and public display have not been verified. Catalogue dimensions describe the museum object, not measurements taken from the photograph.

Photographs

E. Barthet No. 10 — gimballed box, L2015-3496
E. Barthet No. 10 — gimballed box, L2015-3496 — © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum / Science Museum Group / The Clockmakers’ Museum, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 as stated by source; commercial-use permission review pending. Official museum or publication source
E. Barthet No. 10 — dial and canister
E. Barthet No. 10 — dial and canister — © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum / Science Museum Group / The Clockmakers’ Museum, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 as stated by source; commercial-use permission review pending. Official museum or publication source
E. Barthet No. 10 — exposed movement
E. Barthet No. 10 — exposed movement — © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum / Science Museum Group / The Clockmakers’ Museum, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 as stated by source; commercial-use permission review pending. Official museum or publication source

Photographs are illustrative examples of the type, not necessarily the exact object described. Verify details against the source file page.

Sources & references

  1. https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8558033/marine-chronometer-by-e-barthet-found-on-an-abandoned-ship

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