The famous mathematician Isaac Newton looked down his nose at Harrison. Sir Edmund Halley, the era’s best-known astronomer, ridiculed Harrison. But despite this chilly reception, in 1759 John Harrison, a simple English carpenter and self-taught watchmaker, became the first person to craft a portable ship’s chronometer that could maintain its high level of accuracy despite the inclement conditions on the high seas.

Harrison’s legendary H4 not only set standards for precise timekeeping, it also commenced a new chapter in the history of modern seafaring. The H4 lost a mere five seconds on an 81-day voyage from England to Jamaica, despite extreme temperature variations and the ceaseless tossing of the ship’s deck. In subsequent years, thanks to more mature constructions and less costly production methods, England enjoyed a near monopoly in the field of chronometer manufacturing. Renowned English mariners such as Captain James Cook owe their fame in no small measure to exact timekeeping aboard their vessels. England’s superiority in the manufacturing of ship’s chronometers assured the British Empire a nearly 150-year-long hegemony over the world’s oceans, as well as commercial success and flourishing colonies.

But due to intrigues and the arrogance of famous scientists, the man who deserved England’s gratitude for this prosperity, and who had devoted his entire life to the theme of exact time measurement, had to wait until shortly prior to his death before he could finally receive the promised reward of 20,000 pounds sterling

That man was John Harrison. And the chronometer was his legendary H4.

Gerhard D. Wempe: A Man Recognises the Signs of the Times

Chronometry gained importance in imperial Germany many years later than it did in England or France. The Chronometerwerke GmbH was founded in Hamburg in 1905 and renamed “Wempe Chronometerwerke” in 1938.

Gerhard D. Wempe, the firm’s founder, never wanted merely to sell high-quality timepieces: he had always also longed to manufacture them. This yearning was allied with an interest that lay particularly close to his heart: the training of highly qualified and competent watchmakers.

His son Herbert Wempe continued the family tradition by purchasing the Chronometerwerke and by manufacturing precise ship’s clocks. This is a legacy which Hellmut Wempe and his daughter Kim-Eva Wempe eagerly cultivate today.

Image: Herbert Wempe at age 21 in 1911.