- Jonathan Betts
Jonathan Betts (born
29 January 1955 ) is the senior specialist in horology at the Royal Observatory (National Maritime Museum ), Greenwich, ahorological scholar and author, and an expert on the firstmarine chronometer created byJohn Harrison in the middle of the 18th century.He took the
British Horological Institute finals in technical horology in 1975 and was awarded the Tremayne National Prize for Practical Watchmaking. For the following five years, he practised as a self-employed horology conservator. In 1980 he was appointed senior horology conservation officer at the National Maritime Museum and in 1989 was presented the museum's Callender Award for his contribution to horological conservation. He was appointed curator of horology in 1990 and became senior curator in 2004.He is the biographer of
Rupert Gould , the restorer of the Harrison sea clocks. The biography was published in 2006 byOxford University Press under the title "Time Restored: The Harrison Timekeepers and RT Gould, the Man Who Knew (Almost) Everything".In 2002 he won the
Clockmakers' Company 's Harrison Gold Medal.In his own time, he has also been a horological adviser to the National Trust of Great Britain and is currently also adviser to the Harris (Belmont) Charity and to
Clockmakers' Museum .He lives in
Greenwich .
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