506 Report of the Kew Committee. 



3 Standard Thermometers have been supplied during the year. 



There were at the end of the year in the Observatory undergoing 

 verification, 74 Barometers, 595 Thermometers, 9 Sextants, 3 Hydro- 

 meters, 2 Anemometers, and 3 Unifilar Magnetometers. 



VI. RATING OF WATCHES AND CHRONOMETERS. 



As was anticipated in last Report, the number of watches entered 

 for the class B and C tests has been much reduced. 



Those, however, entered for the higher test, class A, have been 

 fully up to the average in number, and decidedly above the average 

 in quality, the movements obtaining the highest grade of certificate, 

 the class A, especially good, being considerably in excess of any 

 previous year. 



The 737 watches received were entered for trial as below : 



For class A, 378 ; class B, 183 ; class C, 166 ; and 10 for the subsi- 

 diary trial. Of these 7 passed the subsidiary test, 151 failed from 

 various causes to gain any certificate; 115 were awarded class C 

 certificates, 179 class B, and 285 class A; of the latter, 46 obtained 

 the highest form of certificate, class A, especially good. 



In Appendix III will be found a table giving the results of trial 

 of the 46 watches which gained the highest number of marks during 

 the year. The first place was taken by Messrs. Baume and Co., 

 London, with a keyless, going-barrel, chronometer- watch, No. 103,025, 

 with the " Tourbillon" escapement, which obtained 88*8 marks out of 

 a maximum of 100. 



The best performance of lever watches during the year was that of 

 No. 52,882 by A. E. Fridlander, Coventry, which gained 87'3 marks. 



The high position gained for several years past by Tourbillon 

 watches has led to increased interest being taken by English manu- 

 facturers in this escapement, and some new forms and modifications 

 have been devised. 



Of these, one of the most successful at present appears to be that 

 known as the " Karrusel." Specimens of this form have been sent 

 for the A trial by different firms, and given excellent results, 

 examples of which will be found in the list gi^en in Appendix III. 



Non-Magnetic Watches. Fifteen watches thus designated have been 

 examined during the year, both as to their ordinary time-keeping and 

 also as to their " non-magnetic " properties, and although the trial 

 to which they are submitted is severe, in the majority of cases the 

 watches were found to perform very satisfactorily. 



Marine Chronometers. The second trial of chronometers on the 

 Greenwich plan, mentioned in last Report, was finished in April. 

 Of the 12 entered, 1 was withdrawn, and 8 of the remainder attained 

 the limit prescribed by the Italian Government. A similar trial for 

 the Portuguese Government was carried out from June to December. 



