Lot 80

Matthias Petersen, Altona

Patent No. 79

A rare Altona ship's chronometer with Petersen's escapement, so-called "deutscher Chronometergang" ("German chronometer escapement")

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In 1888 Matthias Petersen is listed as a watch and chronometer maker in Altona; he was owner of a branch of the F. Eichholz watch and supply company of Hamburg. Petersen constructed his own pivoted detent escapement with a locking cylinder, which he used in his chronometers; he patented this construction on June 4, 1875 as patent no. 2052. However, his achievement was disputed - J.H. Martens also claimed the design as his own and E.G. Storer of Fleurier in Neuchâtel maintained that the mechanism was not original. M. Grossmann produced a prototype of the construction at Glashuette in Saxony. Up to 1905 the share of pivoted detent escapements in competition chronometers was around 20%. In the early 20th century the German companies Broecking, Ehrlich, Nieberg, Knoblich, Lange & Sons, and Chronometerwerke Hamburg produced at most 30 to 50 marine chronometers per year; other makers such as Kittel, Kutter and Petersen himself only created around five chronometers per year. Matthias Petersen, a member of the British Horological Institute, was an excellent watchmaker who was decorated many times in Hamburg; in 1883 for example he achieved 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th and 7th positions in tests. The test temperatures ranged from 5 to 30 degrees Celsius.
Sources: Juergen Abeler, "Meister der Uhrmacherkunst, Wuppertal 1977, p. 477; Tony Mercer, "Chronometer Makers of the World", Colchester 1991, p. 219; Manfred Lux "Die Chronometermacher in Deutschland im 19. Jahrhundert", 'Alte Uhren und moderne Zeitmessung', December 1988; http://www.knirim.de.