Introduction

The history of Dent & Co. spans three centuries of precision watch and clock making in Great Britain. Established in 1814 by Edward J. Dent, the company embraced the Victorian fervour for technological innovation and created precision chronometers to navigate the Royal Navy and guide some of the most intrepid explorers on their voyages. The British Empire was in full expansion and its maritime tradition had produced some remarkable technological breakthroughs from the late 18th century; John Harrison’s triumphant mechanical solution in 1764 to locate a ship’s position at sea won the coveted Board of Longitudes prize money and further consolidated Britain as the horological force in the world.  Propelling the impetus of Britain’s primacy, Dent proved a key player in Victorian horological history manufacturing the Standard Clock at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich which was to keep “Greenwich Mean Time”  the time to which all others in the Empire were referred, (better known today as G.M.T.) and continued to do so until replaced by an electronic clock in 1946.  Dent also made probably the most famous clock in the world - the Great Clock for the Houses of Parliament, familiarly known as Big Ben.

top of page

Chronometers

Edward John Dent (1790-1853) discovered his passion for clock making from his cousin Richard Rippon and from 1814 onwards established an outstanding reputation as a builder of accurate chronometers; vital timepieces for Britain’s maritime conquests, trade and Colonial expansion.  His inventive talents were soon recognized and a chronometer he had submitted to the trials was conferred the First Premium Award in the 1829 Greenwich Trials.

Dent’s reputation soared and their chronometers accompanied some of the century's most influential and colourful explorers. Dent chronometer no. 633 was taken aboard the H.M.S. Beagle in 1831 to accompany Charles Darwin on the voyage that lead to his revolutionary publication “The Origin of the Species” - his groundbreaking theory of evolution. Two decades later, David Livingstone purchased Dent chronometer no. 1800 for his African explorations and in 1890, the explorer H.M. Stanley was moved to write to Dent that “the Chronometers supplied by you, and which were taken across Africa in my last Expedition, proved a very great service to me and were in every way thoroughly satisfactory and reliable”.

top of page

Standard Clocks

Dent’s longstanding service to the Royal Observatory, Greenwich and the admiration it inspired in the Royal Astronomer, Sir George Airy, is well documented.  A Standard Clock was a clock of such reliability and quality that it was used as the reference for all other clocks.

Dent constructed the first Standard Astronomical Clock for the Admiralty in 1814 setting a precedent for the company to supply Standard Clocks to countries such as Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Brussels, Russia and as far afield as the USA and Japan throughout the 19th century.  However, a company milestone was reached in 1871 when Dent was conferred the maximum honour of making the Standard Clock at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the clock to which all others in the Empire would be referred – also known as “G.M.T.”- and was also asked to make a secondary Standard Clock which was responsible for sending the signal for the emission of the 6 ‘pips’ heard on the BBC World Service and first broadcast in 1924.

top of page

Royalty & Domestic Clocks and Watches

Dent’s flair for exquisitely wrought domestic clocks and watches afforded the company a Royal Warrant as the official watch and clockmaker to Her Majesty Queen Victoria and HRH Albert Prince of Wales in 1841, a warrant that would be renewed through to George V’s reign. Russian emperors Tsar Alexander III and Tsar Nicolas II and the Japanese Emperor Mejii also issued Dent with royal warrants.

top of page

Turret Clocks - Public Clocks - Big Ben

The grandiose display of Victorian technological prowess at the Great International Exhibition of 1851 included a Dent turret clock. Having won a Council Medal, the clock at Crystal Palace was dismantled and erected at King’s Cross Station. But perhaps the clock that has most impressed the Dent brand in the British psyche is the Great Clock for Houses of Parliament, familiarly known as “Big Ben”. Three famous clock makers submitted tenders for the prestigious construction and Sir George Airy awarded the contract to Dent in 1852, yet another acknowledgement of the company’s excellent reputation and a unique opportunity to be identified with London’s most symbolic architectural feature.

Click here to find out more information about Big Ben on the official Parliament web site.

top of page

Patents

Dent patented many of their inventions including the balance spring, the use of jewels in mechanism, the dipliedascopes and the fluid compass. However, the 1846 patent for “The Keyless” which, as its name implies, was the first watch that could be wound and set at the crown, dispensing with the use of a key, was to become the most widely reproduced and applied contribution to the advancement of watch making.

top of page

20th Century

The Dent trademark, the triangle, was instituted in 1876 in response to reports of inferior imitators, and appears on back of all watched and clocks from that time on,  as the sign of a genuine Dent timepiece. Throughout the 20th century Dent continued to make and supply marine chronometers, watches and compasses for the Royal Navy and was supplier to the Royal Air Force during the Second World war, and supplied decorative and architectural clocks for the domestic and civil markets. Dent maintained the Royal Warrants until the mid 20th century, and continued to make exquisite clocks throughout this period.

top of page

21st Century

The company has been invigorated by a team of British investors and British management who wish to continue the legacy of the company into the next century. With the principles and excellence of the past firmly in their minds, Dent today is already moving in a direction of which the founders of the business would be proud, securing the contract to make and supply the largest public clock currently under construction in Europe, the station platform clock for the new Eurostar terminal at St. Pancras station, London.

In 2008 Dent launched its first new range of gentleman’s wristwatches for over 40 years, watches that again continue in the legacy of the company, combining contemporary technology with the traditions of excellence, craftsmanship and reliability.

top of page

1790

• Birth of Edward John Dent, founder of the firm

1800

• Aged 10, Dent acquires his first watch, an Earnshaw chronometer; Dent would always use an Earnshaw type of detent in his own creations

1814

• Dent constructs the Standard Astronomical Clock for the Admiralty
• Dent constructs Chronometers for determining the longitude for the Colonial Office African Expedition

1815-29

• Dent learns the clockmaker's trade from Richard Rippon, works for Vulliamy & Son, also spending time with Barraud & Son, probably both on repeaters and helping with their chronometer work

1829

• Following Public Trial of Chronometer, Dent no.114 was awarded First Premium by the Astronomer Royal for an actual variation in the year of 0.54 hundredths of a second

1830

• Dent forms partnership with John Roger Arnold, then still one of the leading chronometer-makers in London; they form Arnold & Dent

1831

• Dent chronometer no. 633 was taken aboard the H.M.S. Beagle in 1831 to accompany Charles Darwin on the voyage that lead to his revolutionary publication “The Origin of the Species”

1833

• Dent discovers the properties of Balance Springs of Chronometers, when composed of different metals. Research into the effect of Magnetism on Chronometers.

1834

• Dent invents and constructs Balance Springs of Glass for Chronometers.

1836

• Dent obtains Patents for “Improvement in the Balance Springs of Chronometers, and in their adjustments”

1837

• Determination of the difference of longitude between Greenwich and Paris by 12 Chronometers, by Arnold and Dent

1838

• Determination of the difference of longitude between Greenwich and Armagh by 15 Chronometers, by Arnold and Dent

1839

• Determination of the difference of longitude between Greenwich and Edinburgh by 12 Chronometers, by Arnold and Dent
• Determination of the difference of longitude between Greenwich and New York by 4 Chronometers, by Arnold and Dent

1840

• Partnership with Arnold ends and E. J. Dent starts producing clocks once more under his own name
• Dent obtains Letters Patent for delivering impulse to Pendulums at their centres of percussion, and for improvements in Chronometer and Balance Springs.

1842

• Dent constructs the Standard Astronomical Clock for the Royal Observatory of Turin, Italy
• Dent obtains Letters Patent for the application of Secondary Compensation to Chronometer Balances.
• Determination of the difference of longitude between Greenwich and Liverpool by 5 Chronometers by Dent.

1843

• Dent obtains Letters Patent for the Tubular and Axis Compasses.

• Dent appointed Chronometer Maker to the Emperor of Russia, by Special Warrant
• The Grand Chronometrical Expedition (for which Dent supplied 81 Chronometers) organised by the Russian Government for the determination of many important longitudes.
• Construction of the Standard Astronomical Clock for the National Observatory of Switzerland in Geneva.
• Dent constructs the New Meridian Instrument, the Dipliedoscope, and registers the assigned patents.

1845

• Dent constructs the Great Clock of the Royal Exchange, London, on whose completion the Astronomer Royal wrote; “I believe the Clock you have constructed for the Royal Exchange to be the best in the world, as regards accuracy of going and striking.”

1846

• Dent granted Letters Patent for the invention of the first watches that could be wound and set at the crown, known as “The Keyless”

1847

• Dent constructs the Standard Astronomical Clock of the Imperial Observatory of Russia at Pulkova
• Dent commences the production of aneroid barometers

1848

• Dent invents of different systems of electric and electro-magnetic clocks

1849

• Dent constructs the Standard Astronomical Clock for the Royal Observatory at Venice.

1850

• David Livingstone purchases Chronometer no.1800 for use during his African explorations

1851

• The Dent turret clock displayed at The Great International Exhibition, which won the only Council Medal for Horology; after the Exhibition, it is erected at Kings Cross Station. Won the Medal for Patent Ships’ and Surveying Compasses.
• Dent invents of the Prism Chronometer Balance, afterwards registered under the Act of Parliament.
• Dent patents for the Single Pin Escapement

1852

• Dent receives the order for the great clock for the Houses of Parliament, designed by Edmund Beckett Denison (later Lord Grimthorpe)

1853

• Death of E.J. Dent
• Dent constructs the First Gravity Escapements.
• Dent invents and registers the Fluid Compass, which was used by the Royal Navy and the Royal National Life Boat Institution

1854

• Dent constructs and erects the Great Galvanic Chronographic Apparatus of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. This Apparatus determines the Time of Transits and all Astronomical Phenomena observed at the Observatory.

1855

• Dent constructs the New Standard Astronomical Clock at the Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford University

1856

• Dent constructs the Astronomical Clock at the Royal Observatory of Scotland, in Edinburgh
• Dent is presented with the Great Silver Medal, by H.M. the King of Holland.

1857

• Dent constructs of the Palace Clock, Balmoral, for HM Queen Victoria

1859

• The Great Clock of the Houses of Parliament, known as “Big Ben” and made by Dent, is installed and put into service.

1862

• Dent obtains Letter Patent for the “Watchman’s” Tell Tale Clock, used at Windsor Castle, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral.
• Dent constructs the Great Clock at the International Exhibition, and also receives highest awards for Chronometers, Watches, Clocks and Ships Compasses.
• Dent invents of the Double Bar Auxiliary Chronometer Balance.

1863

• Dent establishes Telegraphic Time Communication with the Royal Observatory Greenwich and with the Great Westminster Clock.
• Dent appointed Watch and Clock Makers to HRH Prince of Wales by Special Warrant.

1865

• Dent invents and constructs Fog Bell Machinery used in Light Houses; first installed at Lowestoft Ness
• Dent constructs the Standard Astronomical and Subsidiary Time Ball Clocks of the Ballast Board, Dublin

1867

• Dent constructs the Clock for determining the Velocity of Projectiles, for the Secretary of State for War

1868

• Dent constructs the Standard Clock for the Ordinance Survey Department

1869

• Dent obtains the Patent for the Improved Tail Lever Escapement; the most important improvement in Watch Escapements of recent years.

1870

• Dent’s construction of “First Class” Standard Astronomical Clocks, for the use of the Transit of Venus Expeditions

1871

• Dent’s construction of the Standard Clock of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, a sidereel regulator, no.

1872

• Dent’s construction of the Astronomical Clocks for the use of the Transit of Venus Expeditions
• Dent receives First Prize at the First Competition in Horological Turning

• Dent’s construction of the Standard Regulator Clock for dropping the Time Ball in Port Elisabeth, South Africa

1875

• Dent’s construction of the Standard Astronomical Clock of the Royal Observatory of Ireland, Dunsink
• Dent constructs the Standard Astronomical Clock for Vanderbilt University, USA

1876

• Dent constructs the Standard Astronomical Clock of the Royal Observatory of Coimbra, Portugal

1877

• Dent constructs the New Standard Artic Surveying Compass for the Dutch Polar Expedition
• Dent constructs the Standard Astronomical Clock of the Royal Observatory of Brussels, which would also be the Standard Timekeeper of the Kingdom, to which all others would be referred.
• Dent is awarded First Prize at the Second Competition in Horological Turning.

1878

• Dent constructs the Standard Astronomical Clock of the Royal Observatory of San Fernando, Spain, which would also be the Standard Time Keeper of the Kingdom, to which all others would be referred.
• Dent commencement of the Great Chronographic Apparatus of the Royal Observatory of Belgium.  This was the most exact, complete and powerful apparatus ever constructed.

1879

• Dent constructs Chronometers for determining the longitude of the Italian Government’s African Exploring Expedition.
• Dent constructs the Standard Astronomical Clock of the Imperial Observatory of Japan, which would also be the Standard Time Keeper of the Empire of Japan, to which all others would be referred
• Dent constructs the New System of Galvanic Contact Apparatus for Motor and Controlling Clocks (Master & Slave)

1880

• His Majesty Emperor Mejii grants Royal Warrant for Dent & Co.

1890

• H. M. Stanley writes to the company to say, “The Chronometers supplied by Dent, and which were taken across Africa in my last Expedition, proved a very great service to me and were in every way thoroughly satisfactory and reliable.”

1901

• M. F. Dent pocket watches are engraved with the inscription, “Watchmaker to her late Majesty”

1904

• The Shah of Persia grants Dent & Co. Royal Warrant

1908

• Dent obtains First Prizes for clock and watches at the Franco-British Exhibition

1901 – 1930

• Dent continues to produce chronometers and compasses for the Admiralty
• Successive Monarchs of Great Britain grant Dent Royal Warrants, warrants not renewed in 1964

1949 -1963

• Dent checks and repairs watches for the Royal Air Force

1950 – 2006

• Dent produces exquisite Inclined Plane, Epicyclic Skeleton, Congreve, Falling Ball, Carriage and other clocks on commission for discerning collectors, and continues to repair its watches and clocks.

2006

• Dent wins commission for the station platform clock at St. Pancras station, London.

2008

• Dent launches the first range of wrist watches for 40 years.