Leonard A. Salzer, A full-size working replica of John Harrison's first sea-clock, 'H1', English, completed 1984

oval dial plate with double cherub and mitre spandrels, upper dial for seconds calibrated 2 x sixty, central dials calibrated 2x sixty minutes and 2x twelve hours with calendar dial at the bottom, spring driven movement with two barrels, fusee and maintaining power, wood wheels and  lantern pinions with lignum vitae rollers, grasshopper escapement with brass wheel and lignum vitae pallets, bar-bell balances mounted on anti-friction arms with temperature compensation gridirons controlling the balance springs, with electric re-winding and mounted in a glazed wood display case, the winding motor concealed in the base, accompanied by a copy of Randall, The Time Museum Catalogue of Marine Chronometers.

Time Museum Inventory No. 2368

Randall, cat. no. 84

Len Salzer (1922-1990) was by training a toolmaker and a highly gifted practical engineer. When visiting Greenwich, South-East London, he saw the Harrison Sea Clocks for the first time and was so fascinated by 'H1' that he decided to make a copy of it. Being a modest and self-effacing man he did not like to ask for assistance and so spent several months studying the clock from outside its case and devised a way of accurately measuring the various components without actually handling them. He made a series of drawings, adjusting them as necessary until he felt that they accurately reflected the dimensions and proportions of 'H1'. He proceeded to make a copy of the clock and the resulting piece eventually came to the notice of horological enthusiasts and was widely admired and exhibited in a number of countries.  Salzer's first replica of 'H1' now resides in the collection of the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich.

Len Salzer was then asked to make a second copy of 'H1’ for the Time Museum, which forms the present lot. As, by this time, his splendid efforts to make the first copy had become well-known he was allowed to take accurate measurements of Harrison’s timekeeper before commencing the task of building the clock for the Time Museum. Len Salzer went on to make a copy of one of the Harrison longcase regulators.