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Lot Essay
With unsigned fitted brown presentation box and a stainless steel chain with winding key. Furthermore delivered with a small brass tool to turn the centre wheel arbour for hand-setting.
The present pocket chronometer is fitted with a trio in uno balance spring, developed by the chronometer maker John Hammersley of London. An identical watch with succeeding number 28'318 was supplied by Dent in 1890 to the British explorer Henry Stanley Morton for his Congo Expedition (sold at Christie's, London King Street, The African Sale including Henry Morton Stanley Collection, 24 September 2002, lot 63). In a letter to M.F. Dent Stanley wrote "The Chronometers supplied to you, and which were taken across Africa in my last Expedition, proved a very great service to me and were in every way thoroughly satisfactory and reliable" (Vaudrey Mercer The Life and Letters of Edward John Dent, p. 540).
The firm E. Dent & Co. was originally founded by the English watchmaker Edward John Dent (1790 - 1853), renowned for his high quality pocket and marine chronometers, regulators as well as large clocks he made for the Royal Exchange and Westminster (Big Ben). He worked in the workshops of Vulliamy and Paul Philippe Barraud. In 1830 he went into partnership with the famous John Roger Arnold. When the partnership of "Arnold & Dent" expired in 1840, he established himself at 82 Strand (later moving to 61) and also took workshops at 33 Cockspur Street and inside the Royal Exchange.
After Edward John's death, the businesses were taken over by his stepsons Frederick and Richard, followed by their successors. The company's name was consequently changed to E. Dent & Co.
The present pocket chronometer is fitted with a trio in uno balance spring, developed by the chronometer maker John Hammersley of London. An identical watch with succeeding number 28'318 was supplied by Dent in 1890 to the British explorer Henry Stanley Morton for his Congo Expedition (sold at Christie's, London King Street, The African Sale including Henry Morton Stanley Collection, 24 September 2002, lot 63). In a letter to M.F. Dent Stanley wrote "The Chronometers supplied to you, and which were taken across Africa in my last Expedition, proved a very great service to me and were in every way thoroughly satisfactory and reliable" (Vaudrey Mercer The Life and Letters of Edward John Dent, p. 540).
The firm E. Dent & Co. was originally founded by the English watchmaker Edward John Dent (1790 - 1853), renowned for his high quality pocket and marine chronometers, regulators as well as large clocks he made for the Royal Exchange and Westminster (Big Ben). He worked in the workshops of Vulliamy and Paul Philippe Barraud. In 1830 he went into partnership with the famous John Roger Arnold. When the partnership of "Arnold & Dent" expired in 1840, he established himself at 82 Strand (later moving to 61) and also took workshops at 33 Cockspur Street and inside the Royal Exchange.
After Edward John's death, the businesses were taken over by his stepsons Frederick and Richard, followed by their successors. The company's name was consequently changed to E. Dent & Co.