A visit to the Royal Observatory Greenwich – January 2023

I had some free time in London last Thursday (made it down despite the reported train strikes and travel chaos :0).
I made a flying visit to the Royal Observatory Greenwich. Home of the prime meridian and arguably the most important timepiece ever made. I thought an Omega Marine Chronometer was apt for the visit. I did not have much time (a bit ironic) so only saw a fraction of what the location has to offer. Certainly, it is well worth a visit. On route I persuaded a young lady on the tube to allow a quick wrist watch check to show off her Saturn Moonswatch which was looking very cool. It is nice to see new and younger people being hooked into the Moonwatch story in my view. It must have been ladies day as on the way back on older lady was sporting a rather nice Santos and she also obliged a quick wrist watch check with me. I did pop in to the Omega boutique at the Royal Exchange which for reasons I wont bore you with was a soul destroying experience. I will stick with my AD I think. I also tried swatch for a Moonswatch (again :0)….. no room at the inn, apparently, they get a couple of Moonswatch in every few days but never know what or when. That is wearing a bit thin for what it is. Still all in all a very enjoyable day in the smoke and nice to see the Harrison timepiece collection. It was also interesting to see how Quartz timekeeping evolved. Looking at the Omega MC compared to earlier efforts I am glad that enjoyed similar development path in terms of size and weight.

Nice pictures!

I did not take any in the Maritime museum. It was a quiet day due to the train strike and I did not take anything which might compromise security or was different to shots already in the public domain. Also any photos are not for profit / not commercial use. I was more worried about asking a young lady for wrist shots of a Moonswatch on the tube. Lucky I have an honest face or I might have got Maced :0)

That is a very interesting visit. Thanks for sharing your pics.

One of the first places I visited in London, well worth it. For those with an interest, the book "Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time" by Dava Sobel is a great read.

Thanks for sharing your experience 😀

Pleased you like them. Yes that’s fine for educational use.

ROG is a great place and the Greenwich meridian line can be spotted in several areas in the park !
In the past, I have made a few observation sessions with the large 72 cm Grubb refractor ( the 28 inch refracting telescope = lens ).
It took 8 years to grind its lens to a perfect shape and the telescope with its huge equatorial mount was installed in 1893 in the Onion dome.
Over the years light pollution became a huge issue and such a refractor only has use for observing the Moon & the planets.
With the recent addition of a computer-aided guidance system and CCD camera, it continues to work as educational observing platform.
BTW over the past 40 years I have visited & documented the optical telescopes & their instruments at 200 observatories worldwide... 😉
(Photos: MoonwatchUniverse)
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Red "Time Ball" in London, Yellow "Time Ball" in Sydney 😗
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Asking strangers for wrist shots, love it👍

Prototype wheelie bin?

Even seeing them not running, going from H3 to H4 was almost a metaphysical experience for me because you're going from this massive table clock to a palm size watch. Just...how?!?!? 😁

(As a kid, my first trip to NYC was actually to the South Street Seaport so my dad could see the HSNY exhibit on Harrison and I believe they had H2 travelling as a part of the exhibit).