98th Auction
2018/11/10
Lot 524
A collection of a deck watch and an expedition compass
Sydney Better, 4. Sandford Bldg. Arnold Circus, London, Movement No. 151351, Case No. 151351, 62 mm, circa 1940
An English deck watch of the Royal Navy with 54 min. carousel with original mahogany box
Case: brass. Dial: enamel. Movm.: 2/3 plate movement, compensation blance with gold and platinum screws.
Sydney Better (1877-1950) was born in Krakow, then Austrian territory. He moved to London in 1911 and remained there until the end of his life. Better acquired an excellent reputation as a regleur, first working for the Royal Navy and from the early 1920s on with the Northern Goldsmiths Company, where he adjusted a number of tourbillons that took part in chronometer tests at the observatories in Kew and Teddington. It was assumed for a long time that Better was also the maker of these tourbillons, however, this cannot be verified. Due to an increasing demand for timekeepers in the 1930s when the Second World War threatened, Better once again worked for the Royal Navy; he was responsible for the maintenance of ship’s chronometers and built his own deck watches or finished ebauches.
The carousel chronometer no. 151351 came into service in 1941. From May 1942 until February 1944 it was used aboard the Polo Norte, afterwards aboard the ORP Ślązak. From December 1946 until June 1948 the chronometer was used on the submarine HMS Solent before beginning another, "civil", career as a collector’s piece.
Source: Paul Myatt: Sidney Better - Watch Springer & Timer, Antiquarian Horlological Society, 2011, p. 651ff.
Sydney Better, 4. Sandford Bldg. Arnold Circus, London, Movement No. 151351, Case No. 151351, 62 mm, circa 1940
An English deck watch of the Royal Navy with 54 min. carousel with original mahogany box
Case: brass. Dial: enamel. Movm.: 2/3 plate movement, compensation blance with gold and platinum screws.
Sydney Better (1877-1950) was born in Krakow, then Austrian territory. He moved to London in 1911 and remained there until the end of his life. Better acquired an excellent reputation as a regleur, first working for the Royal Navy and from the early 1920s on with the Northern Goldsmiths Company, where he adjusted a number of tourbillons that took part in chronometer tests at the observatories in Kew and Teddington. It was assumed for a long time that Better was also the maker of these tourbillons, however, this cannot be verified. Due to an increasing demand for timekeepers in the 1930s when the Second World War threatened, Better once again worked for the Royal Navy; he was responsible for the maintenance of ship’s chronometers and built his own deck watches or finished ebauches.
The carousel chronometer no. 151351 came into service in 1941. From May 1942 until February 1944 it was used aboard the Polo Norte, afterwards aboard the ORP Ślązak. From December 1946 until June 1948 the chronometer was used on the submarine HMS Solent before beginning another, "civil", career as a collector’s piece.
Source: Paul Myatt: Sidney Better - Watch Springer & Timer, Antiquarian Horlological Society, 2011, p. 651ff.
Sold
estimated
1.500—4.000 €
Price realized
5.600 €