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Box Chronometer - click to enlarge

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Box Chronometer

Catalogue number:
ME*314825

Inscriptions:
"HAMILTON (/) LANCASTER PA., U. S. A. (/) N 1(/) 1941" and "MODEL 221. 14 JEWELS (/) HAMILTON WATCH CO. (/) LANCASTER. PENNA. (/) MADE IN U.S.A. FOR (/) U.S. NAVY. BU. SHIPS-1941 (/) N 1"

Dimensions:
bezel 4.9 inches diameter

Discussion:
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.

Further Information:

Chronometer

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