Ships, Clocks & Stars: The Quest for Longitude

When in London recently I was lucky enough to see the exhibition “Ships, Clocks & Stars: The Quest for Longitude” at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. The exhibition was put on to mark the 300th anniversary of the passing of the Longitude Act in July 1714.  It shows the historical story of the journey to establish longitude, the east-west position at sea.

 The quest for longitude was a huge challenge at the time and rewards of up to £20,000 were offered to anyone who could solve this mystery. Some of the world’s greatest scientists of the 17^th and 18^th century worked on a solution. These included Galileo, Isaac Newton, Captain Cook and John Harrison.

The confirmation of longitude saved ships from terrible fates such as shipwreck and starvation. Discovery of Longitude revolutionized and extended the possibility of safe long-distance sea travel.  Even centuries later, the science that was discovered during this quest still has an affect on modern communication and travel. The development of GPS, mobile phones and international time zones all rely to some extent on the information discovered at that time.

Two of the highlights of this exhibition include

• The original Longitude Act of 1714 on public display for the first time ever



 All five of John Harrison’s legendary timekeepers which were the first to allow accurate timekeeping at sea.

John Harrison's first sea clock H1

 John Harrison's clock H2

John Harrison's clock H3

Harrison's "Sea Watch" No.1 (H4), with winding crank

Harrison's Chronometer H5

  John Harrison invented the first marine chronometer which helped to solve the problem of establishing the East-West position or longitude of a ship at sea. These watches are the forbears of modern chronometers as we know them today

1767 portrait of John Harrison

So why was discovering Longitude so important and why was accurate time so necessary? Longitude fixes the location of a place on Earth east or west of a north-south line called the prime meridian. It is recorded as an angular measurement ranging from 0° at the prime meridian to +180° eastward and −180° westward. A ship's east-west position was essential when approaching land. After a long sea voyage, cumulative errors in dead reckoning often resulted in shipwrecks and loss of life.

 Preventing these disasters became essential in Harrison's lifetime because this was a period when both trade and navigational exploits were becoming more common. Earlier methods to determine longitude during a long sea voyage were difficult because of the problems in accurately estimating the time at any given place. These earlier methods relied on astronomical observations, but this too was fraught with problems because it relied on the predictable nature of the movement different heavenly bodies.

 The self taught Harrison solved the problem by producing a clock which could be relied upon to keep the time of the given place. Against all odds, he developed a clock which was not affected by variations in temperature, pressure or humidity and which stayed accurate over long time intervals, resisted corrosion in salt air, and was able to function on board a constantly-moving ship.

Harrison’s work in developing a clock which could work accurately under these harsh conditions was an amazing feat. Many leading scientists of the time, including Issac Newton were doubtful that it could ever be achieved.  However there is some evidence that Harrison did not work alone "Lone, longitude genius may have had help" But whether he had help or not ,we of our generation are pleased he was so resourceful because his work was the forerunner for the wristwatches, clocks, chronometers and GPS systems available to us today.

This exhibition is a must see for all the Horology Enthusiasts out there who just love to see a well made antique clock and learn a bit of history at the same time.

The Hidden Danger When Buying Antique Clocks, Watches, Barometers and Thermometers

Recently I visited the beautiful market town of Hawes in the Yorkshire Dales in Northern England and was delighted to come across an antique shop which specializes in antique clocks, watches, barometers and thermometers. All their antique clocks, watches, barometers and thermometers were carefully restored and sold with a guarantee.  The wonderful array of products on display looked like brand new. I was very excited about the collection.

This antique shop is a family run business established nearly 30 years ago who have always prided themselves in providing customers with a fantastic choice of quality original antiques at competitive prices. Their display of superb long-case, bracket, grand-father and mantle clocks was fantastic and they seemed to have one of the largest choices of barometers and thermometers I have ever seen.

But herein lies the hidden danger associated with antique clocks, watches, barometers and thermometers A large proportion of the antique thermometers on display were mercury thermometers. As a professional Microbiologist I immediately became concerned especially when the person I was with chose an elaborate Antique clock with a barometer and a mercury thermometer barometer and wanted to carry it with him as hand luggage on our flight back to Sydney, Australia.

 

Neither my friend nor the owner of the shop seemed to be aware of the dangers of mercury. Mercury is a heavy metal with the chemical formula Hg and is highly toxic and corrosive. Mercury poisoning include damage to the brain, kidneys and lungs resulting in several diseases including acrodynia, Hunter-Russell syndrome and Minamata disease. 

In mercury thermometers it is used in its liquid form. Mercury is a shiny, silver-white metal that is liquid at room temperature. The glass mercury thermometer consists of a large bulb containing the liquid mercury which is attached to a glass tube of narrow diameter. Therefore the volume of mercury in the tube is much less than the volume in the bulb. The volume of mercury changes slightly with temperature and this small change in volume drives the narrow mercury column a relatively long way up the tube.

Whilst it is encased in the glass it is quite safe. However the glass bulb and tube are very fragile and easily subject to breakage and obviously if broken the mercury is released. The liquid metallic mercury or quicksilver as it is commonly known is poorly absorbed by ingestion and skin contact but it is hazardous due to its potential to release mercury vapor. If not sealed off, mercury slowly evaporates into the air, forming a vapor. The quantity of vapor formed increases as temperatures rise.

In humans, approximately 80% of inhaled mercury vapor is absorbed via the respiratory tract from where it enters the circulatory system and is then distributed throughout the body. In trials it has been proven that chronic exposure by inhalation, even at really low concentrations can cause effects such as tremors, impaired cognitive skills, and sleep disturbance. Acute inhalation of high concentrations causes a wide variety of cognitive, personality, sensory, and motor disturbances.

 Toxic effects of mercury may also be caused by things like amalgam fillings and mercuric salts which contaminate certain fish species. Mercury occurs inorganically as salts such as Mercuric Chloride. Mercury salts affect primarily the gastrointestinal tract and the kidneys causing severe kidney damage.   However, as they cannot cross the blood-brain barrier so they do not usually cause neurological damage without continuous or heavy.

Mercury is listed as a corrosive by the US Dept. of Transportation and must be shipped as a hazardous substance. So simply carrying a mercury thermometer as part of your hand luggage is not allowed internationally or domestically and there are strict regulations about how it can be transported or posted. You need to contact your local authority before purchasing, posting or receiving a mercury thermometer. 

In 2012^[update], many mercury-in-glass thermometers were used in the sciences such as meteorology and microbiology. They were also really common in medical “fever” thermometers and antique wall thermometers such as the ones I saw in this antique store.  However they are being phased out and are becoming increasingly rare. Many countries have banned them for medical use due to the toxicity of mercury. Some manufacturers use alcohol, galinstan, a liquid alloy of gallium and indium, or tin as a replacement for mercury.

Mercury poisoning can be prevented or minimized by eliminating or reducing exposure to mercury and mercury compounds. To that end, many governments and private groups have made efforts to regulate heavily the use of mercury, or to issue advisories about its use. Many countries have regulations or recommendations on the selling and use of mercury thermometers. For example the UK where these mercury thermometers were on sale follows the European Union directive 2007/51/EC on mercury thermometers which came into force on 3 April 2009.  

The UK Health Protection Agency  (HPA) reported that mercury thermometers could no longer be sold to the public. Shops holding stocks of unsold thermometers had to withdraw them from sale but that mercury thermometers purchased before this date could be used without legal implications. The purpose of these restrictions is to protect the environment and public health by decreasing the amount of mercury waste released. The USA Environmental Protection Agency recommend that alternative thermometers be used in the home.

The export from the European Union of mercury and some mercury compounds has been prohibited since 15 March2010.  However the variability among regulations and advisories is at times confusing for the lay person as well as scientists.

 Previously in 2007, the HPA had released a guide to dealing with small spills of mercury, and it is my advice that anyone with a mercury thermometer in their home should read these guidelines and purchase a mercury spill kit and learn the safe way to deal with a mercury spill.

So if you intend to buy an  antique clocks, watches or barometers with an attached mercury  thermometers beware of the hidden danger of mercury and only choose a thermometer if it is alcohol based.

Sundials in the Ticino Region in Switzerland

Sundials featured on all the village churches in  Maggie Valley Located in the  Ticino Region in the South of Switzerland. Is this an early indication of the Swiss horological excellence which was to follow in later years?

 

 

 

I recently visited the land of my ancestors, the village of Gordevio which is located in the Swiss Alps in the Ticino Region in the south of Switzerland. The area has retained its heritage and is spotted with small villages of houses made from the local rocks found in the rivers and on the mountains.

 



 

 

 Every village has a scattering of fountains which were the source of water for the villagers, and a church for worship. These churches are very old, some dating back to as early as  the 15^th , 16^th  and 17^th centuries  are elaborately decorated with frescoes and each has a bell tower. Also common in the area are shrines or grottos dedicated to the Virgin Mary, but many of these were erected in the early 1900’s rather than during the time my ancestors were living there.

 



 But what struck me most (excuse the pun) were the sundials found on each church. Early evidence I think of the Swiss’ fixation on horology and timekeeping.

 

My great great grandfather and his 17 year old son my great grandfather left this amazing land in the 1860’s, driven by poverty and lack of food to the shores of Australia and finally New Zealand in search of the elusive gold to feed their wives, children and families. The area looks more like Hobbit territory than Otago in New Zealand where this great series by director Peter Jackson was filmed. This amazing mountainous area is so beautiful with the snow capped Alps as a backdrop and laced with rivers, lakes and waterfalls and  not to mention the greenest of  green pastures and vegetation sprinkled with spots of vibrant color from the many flowers growing there. Hydrangeas, geraniums and others were so intensely colored like I had never seen before. It is easy to see why my great grandfather chose Otago to settle in. My great great grandfather chose to return to his family in Gordevio.

 

Sundials are devices that tell the time of day by the position of the sun. In the more common designs such as the horizontal sundial, the sun casts a shadow from the style onto a surface marked with lines indicating the hours of the day. Interestingly though sundials do not adjust for daylight saving and we found that the sundials we saw in Switzerland in June were an hour out.

 

 

The part of sundials which casts the shadow in order to tell the time is called a gnomon. The style is the edge of the gnomon and is usually a thin rod or a sharp, straight edge. As the sun moves across the sky, the shadow-edge aligns with different hour-lines. All sundials must be aligned with their styles parallel to the axis of the Earth's rotation to tell the correct time throughout the year. The style's angle from the horizontal will thus equal the sundial's geographical latitude.  Note that inexpensive mass-produced decorative sundials usually do not have  the correct hour angles and  cannot be adjusted to tell correct time so they can only be used for  decorative purposes.

 

Apart from these sundials there was plenty of evidence with Switzerland’s fixation on horology and their enthusiasm for horological excellence. Watch shops selling all the best of Swiss watch brands were everywhere and the displays in the shops were amazing. The testimony to this is Baselworld which I discussed in my previous blog. A trip to this beautiful southern area of Switzerland and Northern lake district of Italy is well worth the effort. Amazing scenery, amazing architecture, amazing churches, amazing shrines to the Virgin Mary and amazing sundials..

 

 

Baselworld, One Of The World's Biggest Watch Shows - My Favorites

On my recent travels I visited Switzerland and was lucky enough to be able to attend Baselworld, 2014 one of the worlds biggest watch shows. This amazing watch exhibit is held in Switzerland, the home of watch making every year.  For avid watch lovers this exhibit is the ultimate of joy, with thousands of watches on display. The watches on display are made up from all types of brands and all types of designs. The exhibit is great because it showcases timepieces of haute horology as well is those with fashionable aesthetics.

 

Most of the new timepieces on display were functional, fun colored watches  for daily wear. This appealed to those who are lovers of functional watches. But even though there were also a number of novelty watches from independent watchmakers, if it is the fun and innovation you are looking for the leading brands this year may not have meet your needs. Although the classics were available in the traditional gold, silver and platinum, steel seems to have become the latest trend for most brands these days.

Some of the notable watches on display which appealed to me and took my fancy were:

• Chanel J12 Flying Tourbillon

A perfect example of horological excellence mixed with aesthetic perfection 

• Chanel Premiere  Flying Tourbillon

A perfect example of horological excellence mixed with aesthetic perfection for women

• Rolex Oyster Perpetual GMT-Master II

Rolex is aways a must see and this watch is a technical and aesthetic masterpiece meeting the near  impossible task of creating a watch with an amazing  two tome ceramic bezel.

• Grand Seiko Hi- beat GMT

This limited edition watch specially launched for the occasion is highly accurate and has a power reserve of 55 hours

•  Seiko Astron GPS Solar

This second generation watch links to the GPS network and tells the time with atomic precision and has a light-penetrating blue dial.

• Enicar CH350 Ceramic Self winding Automatic Watch

This watch blends classic charm and contemporary style with its black ceramic bezel and cloistered pattern It speaks of the boldness in creativity by Enicar

•  Enicar CH128 Goddess Ladies Watch

This watch inspired by the Roman Goddess Venus it is exquisite from design to quality

•  Ball Watch Engineer Master II Slide Chronograph  

The attention to fine detail, this watch offers a novel approach to the normal watch complications. It uses a mechanical slide, rather than the traditional pushers, to start, stop and reset the stopwatch

•  Ball Watch Trainmaster Kelvin Celsius Watch

This watch is equipped with a mechanical thermometer able to measure ambient temperature between  minus 35 and 45 degree centigrade with 97 % accuracy 

• Swarovski Citra Chrono

With its 40 clear crystals displaying its fabulous rose gold case, this beautiful sparkling watch blends sports chic with elegance

• Tissot T-Complication Squelette Chronometer

This watch features a see through case back to show off the intricacies of it mechanics and the talents of Tissot as an expert watchmaker.

• Breguet 5377 PT Classique Tourbillon Extra-Plat Automatique

This is an extremely flat ultra slim watch made in 950 platinum. It has an off-center, automatic tourbillon with a titanium cage delivering a phenomenal 90 hours of power reserve. The design of this watch shows exception sophistication and craftsmanship and is still protected by patent.

• Jaquet Droz the Pocket Watch Paillonnee

This gorgeous Pallonnee blue enamel pocket watch is designed by artists and perfected by craftsmen. Paillonnee enameling is an intricate art design which has been practiced by this company since the 18^th century. It involves delicate work with gold and azure dies fired at high temperatures.

• Patek Philippe Nautilus Travel time Chronograph

A fascinating watch with the dual time and chronologic functions added to one timepiece, allowing you to see time in two different time zones at once.

• Carl F. Bucherer Pathos Diva

This high fashion but functional women’s watch combines elegance with technical advances in horology., including a 38 hour power reserve.

• Glashutte Original Senator Chronograph Panorama Date

Together with its specific chrongraph movement, this watch has unique combination of features such as a small seconds counter with a power reserve indicator (70 hours) which make it an interesting watch to research. It comes in two styles one with  platinum case and the other with a 18 carat red gold case

• Bulgari Octo Finissimo Tourbillon

This Bulgari watch set a new record for the world’s thinnest tourbillon. The details on this watch are exceptional right down to the very last detail such as the alligator strap with the platinum buckle.

The exhibition hall itself had been redesigned with a new booth plan which was received very well. According to the statistics the number of visitors had increased in 2014 but there was a notable drop in Chinese visitors This may be due to the fact that most brands launch their new products in China shortly after Baselworld, negating the need for Chinese business people to travel to Switzerland. 

The international watch market has entered a cycle of adjustment this year with prices continuing to drop. This is of course good news for watch lovers but may not be such good news for investors.

The Different Types of Rolex Watches

The Rolex company produces two brands of watches

– The Rolex and the Tudor brands. 

Tudor watches offer the precision, reliability and the dependability of the Rolex but at a cheaper price.  All Rolex watches are the symbols of excellence, performance, prestige and innovation. Rolex offers two lines of Rolex watches for both MEN and WOMEN :

• the Oyster Perpetual 
•  the Cellini

Ladies President Watch with Mother of Pearl Dial

 The Oyster Perpetual Line

This range shows the best in elegance and prestige. Like all Rolex watches they are crafted from the finest raw materials and assembled with Rolex's cutting-edge technology. The Oyster Perpetual watch is a symbol of a way of life and a benchmark for fashion and style.

Ladies  Datejust

Except for the 36mm Oyster Perpetual model, the Rolex Oyster and the Rolex Oyster Perpetual are generic names and not specific products lines. Watch models are named Rolex Oyster Perpetual..........  or Rolex Oyster.......... or Rolex............ etc. Some of the   Rolex models in this line are the:

–        Air- king

–        The Date

–        The Datejust

–        Oyster Perpetual

–        Explorer

–        Daytona

–        GMT-Master

–        Lady Datejust

–        Submariner

–        Yachtmaster

–        Day-Date

–        Sea dweller

–        Sky Dweller

–        Oyster Quartz

–        Milgauss

–        Masterpiece

The Professional range includes Rolex watches designed for extreme conditions such as the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner which is a line of watches designed for diving. These Rolex watched are resistant to water and corrosion.

Rolex Submariner

The Air- king is the least expensive model designed for its understated simplicity and elegance. A variant pf the Air King is the Date but has a date display added. It has a 34 mm case and a 19 mm bracelet.

Rolex Air-King

The Datejust models have a larger 36 mm case and a 20 mm bracelet but are otherwise similar to the Date. It is also available in a greater range of metals. It can adjust the date forward one day at a time without affecting the time.

 Rolex Datejust

 The Rolex Cosmograph Daytona is a mechanical, self-winding chronograph watch.

Rolex Daytona Watch

 Cellini Line

The Cellini is Rolex’s line of dressy watches. They were named after Benvenuto Cellini who was a sculptor and goldsmith to Renaissance popes and kings. Every Rolex Cellini watch is a model of precision and artistry. Some of the Cellini models include:

–        Quartz Ladies

–        Quartz Mens

–        Cellinium

–        Cestello Ladies

–        Cestello Mens

–        Danaos Mensuj

–        Prince

Bracelets and Clasps

The Bracelets and clasps fitted to Rolex watches are unique. The Oyster Perpetual Line also has a choice of three different bracelets, the Jublilee, Oyster and President. The clasps on the bracelets are called the Oysterlock, the Oysterclasp and the Crownclasp and are fitted to provide security. The Glidelock has been specially designed for diving Rolex watches. 

 Jubilee Bracelet

 

Oyster Bracelet

President Bracelet

The Rolex bracelets and clasps are designed for ultimate comfort, reliability and security as well as their aesthetic elegance. Many also include the easylink comfort link extension system.

Pricing

Rolex watches are obviously prices according to the model, the type of metals used and whether or not they have diamonds, mother of pearl or other precious gems. Metals used are stainless steel, gold or platinum. Rolex watches can range from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars, with the most expensive Rolex ever being valued at around half a million dollars. Tudor brands are considerably less at between a few hundred dollars to around $9000.