Lot 94

Andreas Hohwü

A rare Amsterdam ship's chronometer of high quality, with 56h power reserve

Even though Andreas Hohwü was a renowned and successful maker of precision pendulum clocks and chronometers – volume one of Jürgen Ermert’s series of books on precision pendulum clocks dedicates as many as 26 pages to him – his marine chronometers hardly ever appear on the market and consequently always fetch high prices. The quality of his work is outstanding; his astronomical pendulum clocks were often used in observatories and he produced a considerable number of marine chronometers, for which he traditionally used English ebauches. Some of them reside in museums today (one of them in Mannheim) and every now and then one of his pieces is presented at an auction – such as this small, no. 334 in immaculate condition.

Andreas Hohwü was born on July 18, 1803 in Gravenstein (today’s Gråsten); he was the son of watch- and clockmaker Thomas Hohwü. He apprenticed with his father before leaving home for Kessels in Altona. From 1834 to 1839 he worked for Breguet in Paris. From 1840 on Hohwü worked as a chronometer maker in Amsterdam and established the Hohwü company there – he became a Dutch citizen in 1869. Hohwü received several honours: he was made Knight of the Orde van de Eikenkroon (Order of the Oak Crown, awarded on May 10, 1849 – at the time, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the Kingdom of the Netherlands were in personal union), Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion (awarded on April 13, 1868, no.24) and Knight of the Crown of Italy (in 1871). Hohwü died in Amsterdam on September 28, 1885.