Chronometers
Edward John Dent (1790-1853) discovered his passion for horology from his cousin, Richard Rippon, himself a master watchmaker. Dent established his own company in 1814, and developed a reputation as a builder of accurate chronometers. One of his chronometers won the First Premium Award in the 1829 Greenwich Trials. The Royal Navy equipped themselves with Dent’s chronometers.
Dent’s chronometers accompanied some of the 19th century’s most influential explorers. Robert FitzRoy took Dent chronometer no. 633 aboard HMS Beagle in 1831 the voyage that eventually led to the publication of The Origin of the Species – Darwin’s revolutionary theory of evolution.
Two decades later, David Livingstone purchased Dent chronometer no. 1800 for his African explorations. And in 1890, the explorer H.M. Stanley was moved to write to Dent that “the Chronometers supplied by you, and which were taken across Africa in my last Expedition, proved a very great service to me and were in every way thoroughly satisfactory and reliable”.
Read more about this topic: Dent (clocks And Watches)