"A Chronometer is a precision watch, which is regulated in various positions and at different temperatures and has received a certificate to that effect." This definition of a chronometer was formulated in 1951 by the Organization of Swiss Watch Manufacturers. This book gives a detailed account of chronometer testing for wristwatches in Europe, with information about testing methods, procedures, and guidelines. as well as participating makers based on Swiss Testing Agencies' yearly reports from 1925 and the Swiss Observatories' reports kept between 1941 and 1967. More than 60 chronometer wristwatches by known makers are discussed, as well as their tests. Types of errors and their possible causes will be pinpointed. Practical chronometer testing will be taught, as will the differences between chronometer and non-chronometer wristwatches from various European countries. In addition to the many photographs in the illustration section, a register listing more than 300 Swiss watch manufacturers who made chronometer wristwatches will be very useful. The reader also receives hints about fakes and forgeries.

This beautiful book presents the fascinating developments in precision time keeping in England from 1720 through the 18th and 19th centuries. The work of well-known 18th century horologists, Shelton, Ellicott, Arnold, Cumming, Earnshaw and the Vulliamys, Reid and Hardy and others are included. Their technical advances in precision pendulum clocks are documented along with the evolution of the cases they were housed in, from the early Georgian style to the classic Victorian dome-topped regulators. Over 700 color and black and white photographs and illustrations document these historically significant time regulators. They have become essential our everyday lives, aiding the industrial revolution, regulating the timetables of trains and being used by clockmakers to regulate the watches and clocks the world had come to rely on.

This long-awaited volume chronicles the horological work carried out in France, Germany, and North America and completes the fascinating history of precision timekeeping in recent time. In France, renowned clockmakers include the Berthouds, the Lepautes, Robin, Janvier, Lepine, LeRoy and Leroy, Bourdier, Jacot and Jarossay. In Germany the primary emphasis is on Riefler, Strasser, and Rohde, but the works of other important makers are also considered. America's contribution to precision timekeeping is chronicled including the works of Seth Thomas, Charles Fasoldt, William Bond and Son Co., E. Howard and Co. and others. Recent advancements in timekeeping include the W5, a clock created by Philip Woodward and the Littlemore clock created by Professor Hall, almost certainly the most accurate pendulum controlled clock the world has known. Over 500 beautiful color and black-and-white photographs illustrate the historical contributions of these eminent clockmakers.

CHRONOMETERS - Marine and pocket chronometers, pocket watches with tourbillons or carousels form, in the large family of clocks, a small group of very precisely running timepieces with little sensitivity to external influences, such as variations in temperature. In the text, the author takes up the fascinating development and history of the chronometer, portrays the most important manufactures in short biographies, and reports on the great voyages of discovery in the 18th Century that proved the utility of the chronometer as a navigational instrument. The illustration section, divided into five sections on the basis of historical and technical standpoints, portays some 350 items in the antique trade and at auctions or seen in private collections, with special emphasis placed on illustrations of their movements.

The art of tracking time has been evidenced for over 300 years in the Black Forest area of Germany. Cuckoo and singing bird clocks, early glass bell, trumpeter, Jockele, animation, and picture frame clocks all have in the Black Forest area by skilled clockmakers who have transformed the function of time into a true form of art through their clocks. Rick Ortenburger's important new study traces the development of this fascinating Black Forest clock industry between about 1700 and 1930. He provides useful information that will meet the collectors' need and increase the appreciation of the beautiful craft these clocks represent. Photographs in color and black and white of 600 different examples make the industry's evolution from early cottage farm houses to the later development of factories come to life.