Lot 55

IWC / Intern. Watch Co.

Royal Navy

A Schaffhausen deck watch for the British Royal Navy - Chronometer Section Hydrographic Department Ministry of Defence

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IWC's calibre 52 was developed as early as 1893 and is one of the most produced movements ever. Variants H6 (6 mm high) with added central second above the plate and T (hand-setting through the crown) were used in aviator’s watches and deck watches such as this one.
This classic deck chronometer is in excellent condition and its distinct, perfect dial in the steel case make, the intricate fine regulation as well as an unusual fitted bridge for the indirect sweep seconds is a truly particular timepiece.

The Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty was established by Order-in-Council in 1795 for the purpose of supplying up-to-date charts and hydrographic information to ships of the Royal Navy, in the first instance from a mass of undigested material accumulated at the Admiralty. In 1809 the Department also became responsible for supplying the fleet with chronometers. Through the nineteenth century the scope of the Department was steadily expanded until by the 1880s Great Britain became the first nation to offer a world coverage of charts and sailing directions on sale to shipping of all nations.
Source: Royal Museums Greenwich