Chronometer

sarabande

sarabande

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Ageing eyes and a distrust of small battery clocks leads me to look for a decent marine chronometer. The key factor is a large dial (min 8 inches) .

Would it be worth getting a message through to the shipbreaking yard in Pakistan , or are there any other sources closer ?

Pls do not suggest ebay. There has been nothing unless one is a collector of rare Russian devices from the Parisian horological convention of 1873...
 
I had the same, sort, of idea - and visited the shipbreakers, in India, not Pakistan.

Fascinating and awful, simultaneously.

The owners of the yards did not want me there, the workers were much more accomodating, friendly and caring (they ensured I was out of harms way).

All the bridge equipment is stripped out before the ships get to the beach - and not knowing this I had not enough time to find out where all the kit went. The shipbreaker - which is the industry that hits the news - is 'separate' from the stripping of the more valuable bits of kit. So contacting the shipbreaker might offer leads - but for a chronometer - I doubt it (not enough money in it). But I am probably wrong. In India the workers live just behind the beach - in homes built from stuff they strip of the ships. There were 'stores' in these villages selling stuff, a couple of places had a monopoly of liferings, others - ladders, and one or 2 prop shafts. I did not find anyone selling the bridge equipment - so all the navigation gear, compass, radios, clocks - went somewhere else. I suspect the people who buy the ships to break subcontract the stripping of all the small stuff - and the breakers on the beach are the big end of the industry (that hits the headlines).

Go for it. Maybe try to pin down who buys the ships, rather then who breaks them up.

I believe there are similar breakers in Turkey - they are closer to home, for you, and maybe closer culturally - and worth a try.

If anyone has a spare day in the right place - well worth a visit, wear old clothes and have a small discrete camera - and be prepared to be 'slightly' underhand to gain access. Once I had learnt visitors were not very welcome - I walked behind a truck entering so the security could not see me. I did not hide - just timed it carefully.

I felt perfectly safe, the workers really looked after me and in the villages where the workers lived I was made welcome, offers of water and fresh fruit. It was all a bit bizarre and unexpected.

The photos are not really of much interest to PBO and YM - but extraordinary.

Jonathan
 
I have been Officer on two ships destined for the beach.

Company inventories everything and details what is taken off .. what is left. If its not vital to ship running to the beach, its removed and ends up in some Ship Owners Managers Office ... home ... or another vessel.
I have various books ... Meteo gear .... that I managed to ferret away ... but even as a guy on board - getting the Chrono would have been near impossible .... usually the Master or Ship Manager had that earmarked !
 
I bet you didnt get the ships bell either. I knew of someone who had the ensign, signed by most of the crew, and various items of cutlery/crockery but little else was liberated.
 
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