Description:
A Dent marine chronometer ship clock, metallic face inscribed Dent, London Chronometer Maker to the Queen No. 2218. Mounted on a brass gimbal and supported in a double handle mahogany wood case, with the key, there is also the original outside wood case as well. Also has wind dial and separate second face.

Material:
Mahogany, metal

Maker/Artist:
Dent

Date:
19th Century

Provenance:
n/a

Size of Artwork:
H. 9.5 x W. 9.4 x D. 9.5 in

Weight (LBS)
14.0

Condition:
In working condition on inspection, the leather strap on the outer wooden box has separated, age crack in outer box lid.

History:
Dent was a London manufacturer of luxury clocks and watches, founded by Edward John Dent. Dent began making watches in 1814, although it wasn’t until 1876 that the Dent triangular trade mark was registered. Perhaps the company’s biggest coup is winning the contract to make the clock for the new palace of Westminster – or Big Ben as it’s more commonly known.Edward John Dent (1790-1853) discovered his passion for horology from his cousin, Richard Rippon, himself a master watchmaker. Dent established his own company in 1814, and developed a reputation as a builder of accurate chronometers. One of his chronometers won the First Premium Award in the 1829 Greenwich Trials. The Royal Navy equipped themselves with Dent’s chronometers.Dent’s chronometers accompanied some of the 19th century’s most influential explorers. Robert FitzRoy took Dent chronometer no. 633 aboard HMS Beagle in 1831 the voyage that eventually led to the publication of The Origin of the Species – Darwin’s revolutionary theory of evolution.Two decades later, David Livingstone purchased Dent chronometer no. 1800 for his African explorations. And in 1890, the explorer H.M. Stanley was moved to write to Dent that “the Chronometers supplied by you, and which were taken across Africa in my last Expedition, proved a very great service to me and were in every way thoroughly satisfactory and reliable”