William J. H. Andrewes, Sundial Architect & Horological Consultant, Concord, Massachusetts
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With the phenomenal advances in technology that have transformed the wristwatch over the last few decades, it is easy to overlook the seminal contributions made 250 years ago by the pioneers of precision timekeeping. Chief among these was John Harrison, who, against all odds, made the first timekeeper that solved the problem of finding longitude at sea and thereby ushered in the age of high precision, portable timekeeping. At the December 2020 lecture of the Horological Society of New York, William Andrewes will discuss Harrison’s history.
One hundred years ago this year, Rupert Gould saw for the first time John Harrison’s marine timekeepers, H1, H2, H3, and H4, and, soon after, began the painstaking task of their restoration. H1, in particular, was in such deplorable condition that, had he not brought it back to life and described it so eloquently in print, it might not have survived. Yet, Gould did not fully recognize Harrison’s influence on the development of precision timekeeping. Fifty years ago, Harrison’s marine timekeepers were considered by some to be a glorious dead-end and his claim of the accuracy of a second in 100 days for his precision regulators was regarded as a gross exaggeration.
Since the publication of Dava Sobel’s best-selling book Longitude and the documentary and feature film that followed in its wake, John Harrison has become as well-known as Isaac Newton, Thomas Tompion, and George Graham and is now honored like them with a memorial in Westminster Abbey. Most recently, his timekeepers were featured in an international touring exhibition called “Ships, Clocks, and Stars” organized by the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
The story of the renaissance of mechanical timekeeping over the last 50 years forms a tapestry of time, woven with a common thread of interest by many remarkable and colorful characters — makers like George Daniels, collectors such as Seth Atwood, dealers, writers, artists, and others with whom William Andrewes has worked to give Harrison the recognition he was for so long denied.
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About William J. H. Andrewes
William Andrewes was born and educated in England. He trained as a clockmaker, working under the guidance of George Daniels and Martin Burgess, and as a designer, graduating from Kingston College of Art in 1972.
Specializing in the field of time measurement for over four decades, he has worked at Eton College (1973-1977), the Old Royal Observatory, Greenwich (1974-1977), The Time Museum (1977-1987), and Harvard University, where he was the David P. Wheatland Curator of the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments (1987-1999). He organized the Longitude Symposium (1993), edited The Quest for Longitude (1996), and was co-author with Dava Sobel of The Illustrated Longitude (1998). For his contributions to horology, the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers awarded him the Harrison Medal in 2007.
William Andrewes has been awarded three patents for his “Longitude Dial”. Examples of his sundials may be found in the United States, England, France, Mexico, and Spain.