I’ve always heard that you should NEVER move the hands of a marine chronometer backwards; only forward in a clockwise direction. Recently I was talking with a clock expert who told me that I could move the minute hand of my 1875 chronometer backward a few minutes without harming the mechanism. He said that most fusee movements will allow this kind of adjustments without damage.

My chronometer is 1 minute 12 seconds fast and holding. I would like to move it back to the correct minute, but have been afraid to try.

Question: is it ok to move the minute hand of a marine chronometer back a minute or two?

Walter,

Only my opinion, but, would it not be better to stop the marine chronometer for a minute or two, than push it backwards? There must be an expert or two out there to tell us the correct thing to do.

Just my two cents worth.

Steve

Thanks, Steven. I like the idea, however to stop it, I have to unscrew the bezel, invert it and remove it from its housing and then I'm not exactly sure how to safely stop the delecate mechanism.

I supose I could let it run down, move the hands forward to a time in the future, wind the mechanism (hoping it does not start running on its on) then "jiggle it" at a precise start time...but that sure sounds clunky to me; there must be a better way. Any suggestions appreciated!