The Hamilton Watch Company made 8902 chronometers for the U.S. Navy, 1500 for the Maritime Commission, and 500 for the Army and Air Force during World War II. This is a 56 hour instrument that was made in 1941. It has a later pattern Earnshaw spring detent escapement, and indications for hours, minutes, seconds, and up and down. The U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1956. Ref: Marvin E. Whitney, The Ship's Chronometer (Cincinnati: 1985), p. 4.