Lot 4

Urban Jürgensen

Chronometer 23

An important, large and heavy precision pocket watch with spring detent escapement

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Urban Juergensen (1776-1830) was the son of Juergen Juergensen (watchmaker to the Danish court); he was born on August 5, 1776 in Kopenhagen. He went to a business school which he left at the age of 15 to train with his father. At the same time he took private math lessons and studied foreign languages with Professor Woolf, who later became minister of state. When he was 20, Urban’s father sent him to Switzerland to further his education; he spent 18 months in Neuchâtel and 6 months in Geneva. In 1797 Urban went to Le Locle to work for Jacques-Frédéric Houriet. From Le Locle he travelled to Paris. Since he came highly recommended, Juergensen was able to work in the workshops of Abraham Louis Breguet and Ferdinand Berthoud. At the time he received an annual grant of 800 thalers from the Danish government. Juergensen later went to work with John Arnold in London to perfect his knowledge on the design of marine chronometers. From London he travelled back to Switzerland via Paris and married one of the daughters of Jacques-Frédéric Houriet. In 1801 Juergensen returned to Kopenhagen and founded a company for the production of marine chronometers with Etienne Magnin. Magnin went to St. Petersburg shortly afterwards. In 1806 his eldest son Louis Urban was born and on 27 July 1808 his son Jules Frederik. Urban Juergensen was the first watchmaker to become a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences. King Frederick VI granted him a Royal Appointment to supply the court with watches and the Danish Admiralty with chronometers. Urban Juergensen died on May 14, 1830. After his death his sons Louis Urban and Jules continued the business.
This watch is illustrated and described in "The Jürgensen Dynasty" by John M. R. Knudsen, Copenhagen 2013, page 110.