Blog: AOTM - Hallmarking Imported Watches

Date: 26 October 2021

Horological Journal July 2021 AOTM - Hallmarking Imported Watches: Click image to access article

The British Horological Institute (BHI) has published the Horological Journal every month since the institute was founded in 1858.

Since January 2020 the BHI has made an article from each issue freely available on its website as an Article of the Month (AOTM) under the heading Each month the BHI post one of the articles from the latest edition of the Horological Journal on the BHI website to give those of you that are not already members a chance to see the high quality peer-reviewed content that has kept the HJ at the forefront of the industry for over 160 years.

The Article of the Month for July 2021 was written by me on the subject of the confusion in the hallmarking of imported watches during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. If you would like to read or download it, follow this link: Hallmarking Imported Watches.

The cover image has nothing to do with my article. It shows a magnificent cylinder escapement watch made by Larcum Kendall, from the collection of Dr John Taylor. The movement engraving closely matches that of K1, a version of John Harrison's H4 made by Kendall and which was used for navigation by Captain Cook. It has been suggested that Kendall may have worn this one as his own, or perhaps it was made for Cook's navigator. A film about K1 is available on the BHI website.

The BHI website says “Feel free to download and share these articles” so please go ahead. If you would like to become a member of the BHI and receive the Horological Journal every month, you can join via the BHI website.