96th Auction
2017/11/18
Lot 284
Theodor Knoblich, Altona, Movement No. 1785, 175 x 195 x 175 mm, circa 1890
A rare ship's chronometer with 56h power reserve
Case: mahogany. Dial: silvered. Movm.: brass movement, chain/fusee, spring detent escapement according to Thomas Earnshaw, bimetallic chronometer balance with 2 weights and 4 screws.
According to a slip of paper on the case, this chronometer sailed on the ship Ophelia, a tall ship based in Hamburg that usually sailed the South America route.
From 1918 on the German Reich had to make reparation payments and these included all sailing vessels larger than 1,600 GRT owned by German shipping companies. The Reparation Commission negotiated the distribution of the ships to the Allied Powers. 57 German sailing vessels had been held in Chile since the war had broken out in 1914; after the end of the war the ships had to return to Germany to be handed over to the Allies and the German ship owners were able to man the ships with German crews to sail them back to Europe. They also received permission to carry cargoes of salpeter from Chile to Europe one more time; as this was a joint operation of several shipping companies, a new company was established - the "Deutsche Segelschiff-Kontor GmbH". One of the partners was the Reederei AG in Hamburg with their four-masted vessels Oceana, Olympia, Onda and Ophelia, and the full-rigged ships Omaha and Ostara.
That the watch had a hard life on the high seas is evident - this is no museum piece but a watch with its own history. Knoblich's fine gilt movement with various blued steel parts, however, remains in excellent condition.
Theodor Knoblich was born on November 28, 1827 in Friedland in Silesia. Even when he was still a child, he began supporting his parents by making pins and repairing musical instruments. Later Knoblich worked with Moritz Krille in Altona; he went on to become head-workman with Schneider in Hamburg and eventually took over Krille’s business in 1863. The company now traded as "Theodor Knoblich, Krilles Nachfolger". Knoblich produced many timekeepers with stop watch function and marine chronometers and delivered chronographs and electric clocks to national and international observatories. He kept in close contact with the observatory in Kiel (which had been moved there from Altona) and used this connection to improve his knowledge of scientific instruments. He built an electric escapement similar to that by Tiede for the Repsold Equatorial and from 1871 on he produced pendulum clocks with and without barometric compensation for observatories like Hamburg and Strasbourg. In 1877 Knoblich moved his business to Hamburg and worked with Ferdinand Dencker on the production of chronometers – this cooperation only lasted a short while, however. Knoblich received awards in Stettin in 1865, in Altona in 1869 and in Vienna in 1873. He produced fine clocks, pendulum clocks and chronometers, for which he usually created the balances and escapements himself; he only had the mainsprings for his chronometers delivered from England. In 1891 Knoblich sold his company due to health reasons and retired. He died on July 1, 1892.
Source: https://watch-wiki.org/index.php?title=Knoblich,_Theodor, as of 02/09/2016
A rare ship's chronometer with 56h power reserve
Case: mahogany. Dial: silvered. Movm.: brass movement, chain/fusee, spring detent escapement according to Thomas Earnshaw, bimetallic chronometer balance with 2 weights and 4 screws.
According to a slip of paper on the case, this chronometer sailed on the ship Ophelia, a tall ship based in Hamburg that usually sailed the South America route.
From 1918 on the German Reich had to make reparation payments and these included all sailing vessels larger than 1,600 GRT owned by German shipping companies. The Reparation Commission negotiated the distribution of the ships to the Allied Powers. 57 German sailing vessels had been held in Chile since the war had broken out in 1914; after the end of the war the ships had to return to Germany to be handed over to the Allies and the German ship owners were able to man the ships with German crews to sail them back to Europe. They also received permission to carry cargoes of salpeter from Chile to Europe one more time; as this was a joint operation of several shipping companies, a new company was established - the "Deutsche Segelschiff-Kontor GmbH". One of the partners was the Reederei AG in Hamburg with their four-masted vessels Oceana, Olympia, Onda and Ophelia, and the full-rigged ships Omaha and Ostara.
That the watch had a hard life on the high seas is evident - this is no museum piece but a watch with its own history. Knoblich's fine gilt movement with various blued steel parts, however, remains in excellent condition.
Theodor Knoblich was born on November 28, 1827 in Friedland in Silesia. Even when he was still a child, he began supporting his parents by making pins and repairing musical instruments. Later Knoblich worked with Moritz Krille in Altona; he went on to become head-workman with Schneider in Hamburg and eventually took over Krille’s business in 1863. The company now traded as "Theodor Knoblich, Krilles Nachfolger". Knoblich produced many timekeepers with stop watch function and marine chronometers and delivered chronographs and electric clocks to national and international observatories. He kept in close contact with the observatory in Kiel (which had been moved there from Altona) and used this connection to improve his knowledge of scientific instruments. He built an electric escapement similar to that by Tiede for the Repsold Equatorial and from 1871 on he produced pendulum clocks with and without barometric compensation for observatories like Hamburg and Strasbourg. In 1877 Knoblich moved his business to Hamburg and worked with Ferdinand Dencker on the production of chronometers – this cooperation only lasted a short while, however. Knoblich received awards in Stettin in 1865, in Altona in 1869 and in Vienna in 1873. He produced fine clocks, pendulum clocks and chronometers, for which he usually created the balances and escapements himself; he only had the mainsprings for his chronometers delivered from England. In 1891 Knoblich sold his company due to health reasons and retired. He died on July 1, 1892.
Source: https://watch-wiki.org/index.php?title=Knoblich,_Theodor, as of 02/09/2016
Sold
estimated
3.500—6.000 €
Price realized
3.400 €