Rare Dutch deck chronometer with 56h power reserve Circa 1850

Deck chronometer in mahogany box by Andres Hohwü
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A rare and small Dutch deck chronometer with 56 hour power reserve in a mahogany box, circa 1850. Brass movement, ∅ 70 mm, chain and fusee, spring detent escapement according to Thomas Earnshaw, large screw compensation balance. Silvered dial with Roman hours, outer minute divisions, subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock and power reserve indication at 12. Inner brass case.
Dial signed and numbered, movement numbered. Comes with the original numbered ratchet key.
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Dimensions: 165 x 165 x 165 mm
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Signed: Andrs. Hohwu, Amsterdam
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Andreas Hohwü was born on July 18th, 1803 in Gravenstein (today’s Gråsten). He was the son of watch and clockmaker Thomas Hohwü. He apprenticed with his father before leaving home for Kessels in Altona. From 1834 to 1839 he worked for Breguet in Paris. From 1840, Hohwü worked as a chronometer maker in Amsterdam and established the Hohwü company. He became a Dutch citizen in 1869. Hohwü received several honours: he was made Knight of the Order of the Oak Crown, awarded on May 10th, 1849, at the time, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the Kingdom of the Netherlands were in personal union, Knight of the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands, awarded on April 13th, 1868, No.24 and Knight of the Crown of Italy in 1871. Hohwü died in Amsterdam on September 28th, 1885.
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Even though Andreas Hohwü was a renowned and successful maker of precision pendulum clocks and chronometers – volume one of Jürgen Ermert’s series of books on precision pendulum clocks dedicates as many as 26 pages to him – his marine chronometers hardly ever appear on the market and consequently always fetch high prices. The quality of his work is outstanding, his astronomical pendulum clocks were often used in observatories and he produced a considerable number of marine chronometers, for which he traditionally used English ebauches. Some of them reside in museums today (one of them in Mannheim) and every now and then one of his pieces is presented at an auction.