A DANISH SMALL MAHOGANY, BRASS-MOUNTED AND INLAID ONE DAY MARINE CHRONOMETER

HEINRICH JOHANN KESSELS, ALTON, NO. 1319. CIRCA 1840

Details

A DANISH SMALL MAHOGANY, BRASS-MOUNTED AND INLAID ONE DAY MARINE CHRONOMETER
HEINRICH JOHANN KESSELS, ALTON, NO. 1319. CIRCA 1840
BOX: two-tier with sliding viewing cover to the lid, this inset with brass lozenge engraved '1319', conforming escutcheon to lock, brass gimbal and cylindrical bowl DIAL: 60 mm. diameter silvered and engraved dial with subsidiary seconds ring and signed 'Kessels Altona/1319', blued steel Breguet hands MOVEMENT: single chain fusee with spring detent, maintaining power, cut bimetallic compensated balance with blued steel helical spring and jewelled endstone, the plate also signed 'Kessels Altona 1319'; winding key
4¾ in. (12 cm.) high; 4 7/8 in. (12.5 cm.) wide; 4 7/8 in. (12.5 cm.) deep

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Lot Essay

Heinrich Kessels (1781-1849) was born in Maastricht, The Netherlands, then a city of the French Empire. He worked for Breguet in Paris. In 1821 he went to Copenhagen, receiving the patronage of King Frederich VI, who encouraged him to stay in Altona, then Danish territory. Chronometer maker to the Danish Navy and a member of the Swedish academy, he sold instruments to most of the north European observatories.

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