Since 1900, Chelsea Clock has been identified for the Ship’s Bell timepiece assortment. Each Ship’s Bell clock is made and assembled by hand at our manufacturing facility in Chelsea, Massachusetts. It takes as much as 4 weeks to craft every timepiece, They’re made with over seven kilos of stable brass and greater than 290 precision components (together with gears, pins, plates, and screws) in addition to our patented 11-jewel motion. All of our Ship’s Bell clocks mark the hours not solely by their good-looking, hand-silvered dials however by wealthy, mellow chimes the identical manner they’ve since these timepieces had been first launched in 1900.
Nonetheless, whereas a lot of our nautically-inclined prospects know ship clock bells inside and outside, some are unfamiliar with both the chimes or the that means behind them. In case you don’t already know in regards to the Ship’s Bell code, right here’s a fast lesson. By realizing the sequence your clocks observe, you’ll know why the ship’s bell sound is significant — and the strikes could change into part of your life too.
The Historical past of Ship Clock Chimes
Mariners have used a singular bell code to inform time at sea for a whole lot of years. The code is predicated on the crew’s typical workday routine whereas the vessel is underway. A ship at sea requires fixed consideration all through the day’s 24 hours. Due to this fact, the day is split into six four-hour durations which are every known as a “watch.” Equally, the crew is damaged up into three divisions. Division members stand their individually assigned duties on two watches per day, with eight hours off obligation between watches.
First Watch: 8:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.
Mid-Watch (additionally Black Watch): 12:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m.
Morning Watch: 4:00 a.m. to eight:00 a.m.
Forenoon Watch: 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Afternoon Watch: 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Night Watch: 4:00 p.m. to eight:00 p.m.
To rotate every division’s watch instances, the Night Watch is periodically divided into two watches. These are known as Canine Watches as a result of they “canine” the watch schedule for all divisions forward by one watch interval.
The watch officer struck the ship’s bell each half-hour to apprise the crew of the time. A single bell denoted the top of the primary half-hour, and one bell was added every half-hour. Eight bells, due to this fact, signaled the top of every four-hour watch.
8 bells: 12:00, 4:00, 8:00
1 bell: 12:30, 4:30, 8:30
2 bells: 1:00, 5:00, 9:00
3 bells: 1:30, 5:30, 9:30
4 bells: 2:00, 6:00, 10:00
5 bells: 2:30, 6:30, 10:30
6 bells: 3:00, 7:00, 11:00
7 bells: 3:30, 7:30, 11:30
Within the “Age of Crusing”, time was stored utilizing a 30-minute hourglass that was turned with every bell putting. Trendy timepieces at the moment are used, however the chime sequence stays the identical to this present day.
Trendy Ship’s Bell Clocks
Chelsea Clock Ship’s Bell clocks all the time have and all the time will observe this identical crusing bell sequence. So, like centuries of seafarers, Chelsea Ship’s Bell clock house owners know the time even once they can’t see it — they only have to listen to its signature chimes! View our total assortment of Ship’s Bell clocks and different handcrafted clocks, barometers, and tide devices at ChelseaClock.com.
