A. JOHANNSEN, LONDON NO. 2784. CIRCA 1880

Details

A Victorian brass-bound mahogany eight-day marine chronometer
A. Johannsen, London No. 2784. Circa 1880
The silvered dial signed and numbered A. Johannsen & Co. MAKERS TO THE ADMIRALTY & TO THE ROYAL NAVIES OF Spain & Portugal. 149 Minories. LONDON 2784, Roman hour numerals, gold hour and minute hands, subsidiary seconds and up-and-down dials with blued steel hands, main frame assembly carrying fusee, barrel and centre wheel, sub-frame assembly with chain guard and carrying remainder of train and Earnshaw escapement, cut bimetallic balance, cylindrical heat compensation weights, blued steel helical balance spring, spring foot detent with jewelled locking stone, brass bowl and gimbal, three-tier brass bound mahogany box, the middle section with inset bone ivory plaque (unsigned), recessed brass handles
8in. (20.5cm.) square box

Provenance

Christie's, London, 26 November 1996, lot 372

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

A. Johannsen is recorded at 149 Minories between 1865 and 1925.
Inside the middle section of the box is a United States Bureau of Ships's plaque giving instruction on how to wedge the balance. This indicates that this chronometer was part of the stock held by the U.S. Navy during the Second World War. Following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour in 1941 the U.S. Navy realised they were woefully short of marine chronometers. With supplies from Switzerland effectively cut off and both the Elgin and Hamilton factories new to chronometer making, the U.S. Navy seconded as many 'foreign' marine chronometers that they could lay their hands on.

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