Where Have All The Chronometers Gone?

[charliehows]

I keep a bit of an eye out for nautical antiques - never see old chronometers, must be a few around. Where have they all gone?

[IslandHopper]

A quick google search found these, mainly in the UK which might be telling, depends on what you want to pay but certainly not cheap...

Marine chronometer - The UK's Premier Antiques Portal - Online Galleries

Antique two-day marine chronometer by Thomas Roberts of Liverpool - Raffety Fine Antique Clocks

https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/mo...Q&gclsrc=aw.ds

[hafa]

Quite a few of them on Ebay. Antique shops, pawn shops and the like used to be common places for finding antique horological items, but Ebay, horological auctions and NAWCC events are now the primary trading venues.

If you're leery of purchasing from Ebay, don't be. In conjunction with PayPal, they have very strong consumer protections and will generally rule in favor of the buyer.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by charliehows

I keep a bit of an eye out for nautical antiques - never see old chronometers, must be a few around. Where have they all gone?

The problem with mechanical time pieces is that they need regular servicing, (2-5yr) in order to maintain a decent working condition. The infrastructure to do this servicing has mostly gone away, so what remains is rather expensive.

Consequently, I would bet that many were disposed of by folks that didn't know what they had, or they became worn and the owners didn't have the funds to service.

As a Celestial Nav guy this question is of interest to me: how can I obtain a cost effective mechanical timepiece that has a steady error rate. If you are interested for this reason I can put you onto a few things.

If you are just interested in them as Antiques, sorry, can't help much beyond what I've already written above.

[toddster8]

I stopped carrying great-grandad's pocket watch in the 80's because a. I finally got a wrist watch and b. The only place in town that cleaned and adjusted them closed.

But on topic: wanting to maintain some sort of quality and accuracy, I shipped off the non-functional ship's clock on my boat to the Chelsea service center. For only a mere $200 and a six-week turnaround, they stripped out the old workings and inserted a $1.99 battery clock that you could get anywhere, produced radio noise with every tick, only functioned between 70 - 90 °F, and lasted about six months.

So, I don't know whether I'll put in another $1.99 movement myself - for $1.99 this time - or find something completely different to put in that nice brass case. But then it won't match the barometer any more.

It would be nice to have a completely non-electrical backup.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by toddster8

I stopped carrying great-grandad's pocket watch in the 80's because a. I finally got a wrist watch and b. The only place in town that cleaned and adjusted them closed.

But on topic: wanting to maintain some sort of quality and accuracy, I shipped off the non-functional ship's clock on my boat to the Chelsea service center. For only a mere $200 and a six-week turnaround, they stripped out the old workings and inserted a $1.99 battery clock that you could get anywhere, produced radio noise with every tick, only functioned between 70 - 90 °F, and lasted about six months.

So, I don't know whether I'll put in another $1.99 movement myself - for $1.99 this time - or find something completely different to put in that nice brass case. But then it won't match the barometer any more.

It would be nice to have a completely non-electrical backup.

So if you are looking for mechanical backup then there are a couple routes to go:

Soviet era Molinja pocket watch. Ebay $35 or so. Crap shoot as to condition. I got one but haven't yet bothered to check the error rate.

This guy has a great website on Molinjas and had them in serviced condition to sell for $150-200. Molnija pocket watches

Alternatively you can get a newer automatic winding watch. Here are some discussions:
NavList: Chronometer Wrist Watch for 2018 Golden Globe Race (138882)
NavList: Rate Adjusting Mechanical Watches for CN (138887)

[MarkSF]

If you want an accurate mechanical watch, and have $5,000 to spare, why not buy a new Omega Seamaster? Beautifully engineered, with Master Chronometer certification.

[inchcailloch]

Chronometer at sea? Get up when the sun rises, bed when it sets! Ok, with the exception of tides. The sea is timeless and thats how I like to be when on the oceans! They look nice though!

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by inchcailloch

Chronometer at sea? Get up when the sun rises, bed when it sets! Ok, with the exception of tides. The sea is timeless and thats how I like to be when on the oceans! They look nice though!

If you want to do Celestial Navigation then you need accurate time. To get accurate time without reference to outside time sources you need a time piece that has a documented and consistent rate of error.

[barnakiel]

I looked them up some time back as I wanted to buy one and found chronometers very dear. I think the base price is USD 400 (s/h and less quality) and $$$ upwards.

You can buy a wristwatch chronometer but these are even more expensive. $$$$

About what could be expected in a world when a 10$ Casio is about as accurate as a 'proper marine grade chronometer'.

Marine Chronometer on Your Wrist

Still, I am about to buy something mechanical as soon as I find a deal.

b.

[Jeff Skelley]

35 years ago I navigated my 1924 72' Alden schooner Bagheera exclusively by Plath Navistar sextant (currently for sale on this forum) and three identical $15 Casio watches. I synchronized them by visiting the captains of various cruise ships and we synchronized them with the cruise ship's chronometer while sipping tea or coffee on the bridge. The captains all graciously invited me aboard when hearing I needed the exact time for celestial (and seeing my schooner from their bridge!) I was able to find my position within the length of a football field in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Pacific.

[redhead]

I was just reading a book about the chronometer used by the Vancouver Expedition while charting the Salish Sea. Turns out that for most of his trip across the Pacific it had been about 2.45 minutes off. Not until he was able to get a lunar and solar sighting simultaneously was he able to set his chronometer with any degree of accuracy.

After reading for so many years of reading Patrick O'Brien and the like I was very surprised to hear this. All the old chronometers have probably been relegated to antique shops, maybe rightly so.

Enough chronometer trivia.

[jrbogie]

chronometers? hell, i've got this retirement gig down so well my daughter gave me a clock with the days of the week on it.

[MarkSF]

Originally Posted by inchcailloch

Chronometer at sea? Get up when the sun rises, bed when it sets! Ok, with the exception of tides. The sea is timeless and thats how I like to be when on the oceans! They look nice though!

You don't just need a chronometer for celestial navigation. The 3 essentials for dead reckoning are :

A chart
A compass
A way of measuring time

Every boat should have these 3 items as a backup, in case the GPS breaks.

I wouldn't be so Luddite as to insist on a mechanical timepiece, though. But make sure you've got spare batteries!

[barnakiel]

Me too. But for me it is more of an airfield.

Your quartz whatever is as good as your gps. You want a mechanical movement.

You also want those yellow sticky notes everywhere to remind you of winding one. ;-)

b.