1800 for his African explorations and in 1890, the explorer H.M. Two decades later, David Livingstone purchased Dent chronometer no. Beagle in 1831 to accompany Charles Darwin on the voyage that lead to his revolutionary publication “The Origin of the Species” – his groundbreaking theory of evolution. His inventive talents were soon recognized and a chronometer he had submitted to the trials was conferred the First Premium Award in the 1829 Greenwich Trials.ĭent’s reputation soared and their chronometers accompanied some of the century’s most influential and colourful explorers. Dent also made probably the most famous clock in the world – the Great Clock for the Houses of Parliament, familiarly known as Big Ben.Įdward John Dent (1790-1853) discovered his passion for clock making from his cousin Richard Rippon and from 1814 onwards established an outstanding reputation as a builder of accurate chronometers vital timepieces for Britain’s maritime conquests, trade and Colonial expansion. Propelling the impetus of Britain’s primacy, Dent proved a key player in Victorian horological history manufacturing the Standard Clock at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich which was to keep “Greenwich Mean Time” the time to which all others in the Empire were referred (better known today as G.M.T.) and continued to do so until replaced by an electronic clock in 1946.
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The British Empire was in full expansion and its maritime tradition had produced some remarkable technological breakthroughs from the late 18th century John Harrison’s triumphant mechanical solution in 1764 to locate a ship’s position at sea won the coveted Board of Longitudes prize money and further consolidated Britain as the horological force in the world. Dent, the company embraced the Victorian fervour for technological innovation and created precision chronometers to navigate the Royal Navy and guide some of the most intrepid explorers on their voyages. spans three centuries of precision watch and clock making in Great Britain.