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Circa 1890
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178mm. square box
A very fine brass-lined ebony cased & velvet-mounted two-day marine chronometer. DIAL The 105mm. diameter silvered dial is signed and numbered D. McGREGOR & Co. MAKERS TO THE ADMIRALTY. GLASGOW & GREENOCK M/7955 AUXILLIARY COMPENSATION, with Arabic outer minute track and inner concentric Roman hour chapters with fine quality gold spade hands, up-and-down sector at XII (0-56) and large seconds ring at VI numbered inside M/7955 AUXILLIARY COMPENSATION, both seconds and up/down dials having blued steel hands. MOVEMENT The movement has the original workshop-spotted brass plates with reversed fusee and spring barrel, the escapement with cut bimetallic balance with circular heat compensation weights and Mercer’s auxiliary compensation, palladium helical balance spring and Earnshaw-type spring foot detent with jewelled locking stone. The reverse of the dial plate is correctly punch-numbered 1584. BOX Brass bowl punch-numbered 1584 on the inside and spring-loaded winding cover to the underside, three-tier ebony-veneered box of the best quality with vacant brass plaque to the front, scalloped brass escutcheons to the upper and lower tiers, flush brass handles to the sides; vacant brass shield cartouche to the (original) top lid which is embellished to the inside with crushed navy blue velvet. The inside of the centre section is pasted with a trade label for H.G. Blair & Co. of Cardiff and a further repair label inscribed in ink New M. Spring and cleaned Septr. 1908 H.G. Blair, Cardiff. DUNCAN McGREGOR Duncan McGregor started his business in Greenock in 1836, opened premises in Glasgow in 1844 and traded as D. McGregor & Co. from 1856 onwards. Branches were opened in Liverpool in 1879 and London in 1886. They advertised themselves as manufacturers of nautical, mathematical and optical instruments, chronometers and watches. THOMAS MERCER The number 1594 punched on the inside of the bowl and on the back of the dial plate indicates that Thomas Mercer & Co. supplied the movement. NOTES This particular chronometer is special for two reasons; firstly the brass-lined ebony box with its lovely velvet-lined lid is of the first quality, boxes of this type are thought to have been more for presentation purposes, perhaps a comparison may be made to Naval officers’ presentation swords which, although proper fighting swords, were generally only used for official parades and ceremonial events. Secondly this chronometer is in almost perfect unused condition, in particular the box and brasswork is virtually as it was made and the movement retains the gorgeous original spotting and the original spring detent.