Sponsored Post written for aBlogtoWatch by advertiser
In the world of watches there are many inspiring stories and technical innovations, but few timepieces have made as big an impact on the world as that of John Harrison and his H4 “sea watch”. Sadly Harrison is today largely an unsung and forgotten hero. March 4th 2019 marks the launch of the Longitude H6, created as the next generation of Harrison’s timepieces and a symbol of his achievements in mechanical watchmaking.
At the height of the age of exploration the greatest challenge of the time was the discovery of a method to determine Longitude at sea. With many famous ships lost to shipwreck, in 1714 the British parliament laid out the Longitude Act a monetary prize to incentivize the discovery of a reliable method. To establish Longitude, time at the ship’s location and a known reference point was needed, but the testing conditions at sea made this impossible using the timepieces of the period.
A self-educated clockmaker, John Harrison dedicated his life to advancing precision timekeeping and revolutionized the world of watchmaking by creating the first timepiece so accurate it could be used to measure Longitude. Today The Longitude Company, co-founded by Ed Harrison, a relative of John Harisson, is founded with a mission to celebrate these forgotten watchmaking achievements, and bring new generation of famous Longitude watches.
New Longitude watch, the H6, has a vintage look and an inspiring story to tell – while still feeling modern and contemporary. The watch’s domed glass and face are subtle nods to Harrison’s last timepieces, and this vintage aesthetics is married with an angular steel case and contemporary color combinations.
Central to the concept of the H6 is its mechanical movement. At the heart of the watch beats a slim mechanical self-winding movement from the Japanese movement company Miyota; a longer term vision for the Longitude Company is to develop a movement that integrates some of the technical features of Harrison’s timepieces into their movements.
Available today on the Kickstarter platform the Longitude H6 is the first in a new line of watches but the latest in a long lineage of timepieces that changed the world. Be among the first to support the Kickstarter campaign (linked here), and get yourself a beautiful piece of watchmaking history! The early bird price for the Longitude H6 is $325 USD which reflects a 40% off discount off the eventual retail price.
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