Hello Chronometerfriends! Looking for a marine Chronometer I found by chance on a broken contact Chronometer by Franz Lidecke from Geestemünde. The Chronometer comes from the World War 1 from the year 1916th. He has not perished with the ship, but in a flood in a cellar in Austria. After a watchmaker had brought back the work startet, I went to work. As you can see in the pictures,the mahogany box was in very bad condition. Grind and screw after 3 days he is now working very well. Franz Lidecke learnd in Glashütte. The Chronometer has second contact and Griesbach balance. The clockwork comes from Glashütte. The Chronometer Nr.461 was in World War 1 on a minesweeper (M145) of the Reichsmarine and from September 1939 at the 6th. Minensuchflottille der Kriegsmarine. 1940 the M145 was overhauled and renamed in M545. In May 1945 the ship came to the United States. 1948 was the M545 a floating barge in Hamburg, and was scrapped in September 1949th. A very nice Chronometer Spezialist from northern Germany owns the original regulation book of Franz Lidecke, and sent me a copy of the Chronometer Nr. 461. Lidecke regulated at the Chronometer Nr. 461 from 1. April- 29. September 1916. I hope I have not bored you with my detailed remarks. Please excuse my bad English. Many greetings from AUSTRIA. Willi
Willi, My congratulations to whoever restored your chronometer and to you, for it's acquisition. It's great, that you were able to come up with the history of the chronometer. They are amazing machines and many have roles and history in their past. Best regards, Ralph
I love your chronometer and the history behind it. Its a clock i would love to have. A very nice find and awesome some great work done restoring it.
Willi, A beautiful chronometer. Amazing work bringing it back to life. It is great to have such detailed provenance. Paul
I almost get the impression that Willi did some of the restoration work, or perhaps he even did it all! It would be interesting if he would tell us about that.
Hello doug sinclair! The balance shaft was broken. A watchmaker in Salzburg made me a new axle. The box I sanded by hand, and just waxed. Originally the box had a second case on the top. Many greetings from Austria. Willi
