FERDINAND BERTHOUD,
A WATCHMAKER
WHO MADE HIS MARK ON HISTORY
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1728
1728 Death of Henry Sully (1680 – 1728), an English horologist settled in Paris and who had been working since 1721 toward building a marine clock based on new principles.
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1730
1730 First use by sailors of the sextant as an instrument to determine latitude.
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1736
1736 Sea trial of the H1 marine clock made by John Harrison (1693- 1776), the self-taught English horologist and chronometer-maker.
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1748
1748 Pierre Le Roy (1717 – 1785), French horologist and official watchmaker to King Louis XV, presented the first detent escapement, a forerunner of the chronometer escapement, at the French Academy of Science.
1727 Origins
Ferdinand Berthoud was born on March 18th 1727 to a family of distinguished clock- and watchmakers in Plancemont in the heart of the Val-de-Travers region of the Canton Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
Plancemont in the heart of the Val-de-Travers region of the Canton Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
At the age of fourteen he was taken on by his brother, Jean-Henry, as a clockmaker's apprentice in Couvet, also receiving a sound scientific education.
On April 16th 1745, aged 18, he moved to Paris, where he continued to hone his skills as a clockmaker. He employed his talents as a journeyman for the Parisian community of master watchmakers.
During the reign of Louis XV (1710-1774), 18th century Paris was undergoing an unprecedented period of intellectual influence and scientific inquiry.
This was the Age of Enlightenment. Knowledge was the holy grail of all scholars, writers and philosophers, whose research enjoyed the encouragement and support of The French Royal Academy of Sciences. This was the specific context in which Ferdinand Berthoud's expertise as a scientific engineer, his manual skill and his gift for mechanics were able to flourish, marking him out as one of the greatest horologists of all time
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1766
1766 Antide Janvier (1751 – 1835), French horologist and watchmaker to King Louis XVIII, began work on the construction of a “moving sphere”. This work occupied him for around a year and a half, before presenting it at the Academy of Science, Literature and Art in Besançon in 1768.
1760 Marine chronometers

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1768
1768 First exploratory voyage by James Cook (1728 – 1779), from August 26th 1768 to July 12th 1771.
1768 Voyage made by order of the king, Fleurieu
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1789
1789 Start of the French revolution.
1785 The la pérouse expedition
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1792
1792 The decimal calendar was instated on the first of Vendémiaire, year I of the Republic (September 22nd 1792) and came into force on the fifteen of Vendémiaire year II of the Republic (October 6th 1793). It was abolished by Napoleon in 1806.
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1793
1793 France declared war on England. Breguet (1747 – 1823), a Swiss watchmaker settled in Paris, secured help in fleeing to Switzerland.
1792 Decimal time
1795 The time of recognition
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1804
1804 Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 – 1821) was proclaimed emperor on May 18th 1804.