The pendulum clock, created 250 years ago, set a world precision record

Shortly before his death in 1776, the British watchmaker John Harrison announced to the public that he had managed to create an “ideal watch” that would reflect the passage of time flawlessly. In those years, his colleagues and numerous competitors laughed at the 80-year-old old man. It seems that Harrison really spoke the truth, and his watch, even 250 years after its creation, continues to show the highest accuracy of the course.

In the XVIII century, Britain was at the peak of its naval power, so many experts of the kingdom were looking for the most accurate way to track ships at sea. At that time there was no GPS, so you could only rely on astronavigation, which, in turn, depended heavily on the exact time. That is why the most accurate clock in this case was vital.

For most of his life, John Harrison sought to create just such a watch for the Royal Navy. The person who would have coped with this task was promised a very solid prize - about $ 6 million, if you transfer the payment to modern money. Unfortunately, despite all the efforts, Harrison’s developments were never accepted by his colleagues, therefore he never received his money.

Toward the end of his life, Harrison designed the clock, which he claimed was the most accurate on earth at that time. The accuracy of the watch was so high that they lost less than 1 second in 100 days. The project was carefully described in the documentation and put on the shelf. Only in 1970, watchmaker Martin Burgess came across these papers and built a Harrison watch according to his drawings.

According to the analysis of specialists from the Guinness Book of Records, Harrison did not lie, and his watch was indeed the most accurate in the world at the time of their invention. Within 100 days, the clock lost only 5/8 seconds, which makes them the most accurate clock in the world with an open pendulum. Harrison finally gained deserved respect, even after so many years. As they say, better late than never.

The article is based on materials https://hi-news.ru/technology/mayatnikovye-chasy-sozdannye-250-let-nazad-ustanovili-mirovoj-rekord-tochnosti.html.