Marine Chronometer #1765,
by J R Losada
The
January 2020 issue of Clocks Magazine
features my article on the watch and clockmaking businesses founded in the eighteen
thirties in London by Spaniard, Jose Rodriguez Losada. It is a convoluted saga, with many aspects of
interest, and one that continued through to the century’s closing decade.
Losada
and his nephews had a modern approach to marketing and exploited a range of
means by which their products would be seen as being of high quality – for
example by trading from prestige location premises, (Regent Street),
illustrated press advertising, participation in international exhibitions and endorsement
by government/military authorities.
This
latter consideration was sought by many makers throughout the nineteenth
century by entering their chronometers into annual trials conducted at
Greenwich Observatory. These trials
tested the accuracy of submitted timepieces over a period of seven or eight
months and in varying ambient temperatures.
Originally instituted in 1822, after a break in the mid-eighteen
thirties, the trials were held each year through to the outbreak of the First
World War. The results formed the basis
on which the Admiralty made purchasing decisions for the marine chronometer requirements
of the Navy’s ships. When a chronometer
was thus selected, its maker greatly valued the consequence that they could
then inscribe, ‘Maker to the Admiralty’ on the plates of their movements and
use the accolade in their advertising.
The
number of makers/instruments submitted to the trials varied considerably over
the years. As few as 17 chronometers
were tested in 1852, while the count was up to 58 in 1861. The low number may well reflect makers’ alternative
focus on preparing for their participation in the Great Exhibition of 1851, and
it is perhaps relevant to note that the number dipped from the 1861 high to 36
in 1862 – the year of the International Exhibition. Most makers submitted two chronometers and in
many instances, year after year. The
average number tested in the 1840s was 38, in the 1850s, 23, and in the 1860s,
51.
Losada
was atypical in his approach to the Greenwich Trials. He submitted his #1417 in 1849, and it was
placed 20th of 31 in terms of accuracy. I think he viewed this result as potentially
counter-productive – that if he couldn’t achieve a top-ten result by participating
he was risking having his products seen as inferior to those of several of his
competitors. So he did not submit
again. If this left him missing a potential
product feature he could advertise – ‘Maker to the Admiralty’ – his later deal
with the Spanish Government to supply 38 chronometers, will have compensated.
Losada’s
nephew, Jose del Riego, entered his chronometer, #3890, to the trials in
1882. Unfortunately, his result was much
worse than Losada’s – 46th of 46.
Not surprising therefore that no further Riego chronometers found their
way to Greenwich in subsequent years!
