Ferdinand Berthoud (; 18 March 1727 – 20 June 1807) was a scientist and watchmaker. He became a master watchmaker in Paris in 1753. Berthoud, who held the position of Horologist-Mechanic by appointment to the King and the Navy, left behind him an exceptionally broad body of work, in particular in the field of marine chronometers.
History
Ferdinand Berthoud was born on 18 March 1727, in Plancemont, Val-de-Travers, in the Principality of Neuchâtel, into a distinguished family of watch and clock makers. His father, Jean Berthoud, was a master carpenter and architect. He was a burgher of Couvet, burgher of Neuchâtel, and justice of the peace for Val-de-Travers from 1717 to 1732. His mother, Judith Berthoud (1682–1765), was born in Couvet.
Ferdinand had four brothers: Abraham (1708-?); Jean-Henry (1710–1790), justice of the peace for Val-de-Travers, clerk of the court in Les Verrières, barrister in Cressier, and an expert watchmaker and clockmaker; Jean-Jacques (1711–1784), a draughtsman, and Pierre (1717-?), a farmer and clockmaker. Pierre was a councillor in Couvet, and married Marguerite Borel-Jaquet in 1741. With her, Pierre had two sons, Pierre Louis (born in Paris in 1754, died 1813), and Henri (born 1741 in Paris, died in 1783); their career was to be closely linked to that of their uncle Ferdinand Berthoud.They also had two daughters,Henriette (1745) and Judith Esther (1746 - 1820)
Ferdinand also had two sisters: Jeanne-Marie (1711–1804) and Suzanne-Marie (1729-?).
In 1741, when he was fourteen, Ferdinand Berthoud became clockmaking apprentice to his brother Jean-Henry in Couvet, at the same time receiving a sound scientific education. On 13 April 1745, Ferdinand Berthoud finished his training and was awarded a watchmaking and clockmaking apprenticeship certificate.Collective work, Catherine Cardinal et al., Ferdinand Berthoud 1727–1807 Horloger mécanicien du Roi et de la Marine, La Chaux-de-Fonds: International Horology Museum, Institut L'homme et le temps, 1984, page 20.Source for apprenticeship certificate: Favarger, P., "Attestation d'apprentissage de Ferdinand Berthoud"1 in: Musée neuchâtelois2, Neuchâtel, 1908, pp. 100–103.
In 1745, aged 18, Ferdinand Berthoud moved to Paris to improve his skills as a watchmaker and clockmaker. He exercised his talents as a journeyman, working with master watchmakers in the Paris community. There is some suggestion in the literature that Ferdinand Berthoud worked for a time for Julien Le Roy, where he is said to have made strikingly swift progress, alongside Pierre Le Roy, his master's son, who later became his rival.Collective work, Catherine Cardinal et al., Ferdinand Berthoud 1727–1807 Horloger mécanicien du Roi et de la Marine, La Chaux-de-Fonds: International Horology Museum, Institut L'homme et le temps, 1984, page 20.
On 4 December 1753, by order of the French Royal Council, in an exception to guild rules and by special favour of the King, Ferdinand Berthoud became a master at the age of 26, receiving the official title of Master Watchmaker.Paris, National archives, E 1290 A, Order of the Royal Council of 4 December 1753.Collective work, Catherine Cardinal et al., Ferdinand Berthoud 1727–1807 Horloger mécanicien du Roi et de la Marine, La Chaux-de-Fonds: International Horology Museum, Institut L'homme et le temps, 1984, page 304.
From 1755 onwards, Ferdinand Berthoud was entrusted with the task of writing a number of reference articles on watchmaking for the Encyclopédie méthodique1, published between 1751 and 1772 under the direction of the writer and philosopher Diderot (1713–1784) and the mathematician and philosopher d'Alembert (1717–1783).Collective work, Catherine Cardinal et al., Ferdinand Berthoud 1727–1807 Horloger mécanicien du Roi et de la Marine, La Chaux-de-Fonds: International Horology Museum, Institut L'homme et le temps, 1984, page 25.
Ferdinand Berthoud published his first specialist work in 1759, L'Art de conduire et de régler les pendules et les montres, à l'usage de ceux qui n'ont aucune connaissance d'horlogerie1 . Several other written works followed, detailed in the "Works" section.
In 1763, Ferdinand Berthoud was appointed by the King to inspect the H4 sea watch made by John Harrison (1693–1776) in London, in the company of mathematician Charles-Etienne Camus (1699–1768), a member of the French Royal Academy of Sciences, and astronomer Joseph-Jérôme Lefrancois de La Lande (1732–1807). It was a disappointing trip for Berthoud: Harrison only showed him his H1, H2, and H3 watches (in exchange for a payment of £500), categorically refusing to show him the legendary H4, the most advanced of them all.Collective work, Catherine Cardinal et al., Ferdinand Berthoud 1727–1807 Horloger mécanicien du Roi et de la Marine, La Chaux-de-Fonds: International Horology Museum, Institut L'homme et le temps, 1984, page 25.
Although Berthoud was not able to see Harrison's famous H4 in London, his trip did offer him a way into English scientific circles, due to the importance of his works and publications in the field of watchmaking. This resulted in him being elected on 16 February 1764 as an "associate foreign member" of the Royal Society in London.Royal Society library archives, Journal Book, vol. 25, p. 3.
In 1764, by order of the King, the French Academy instructed two of its members, Duhamel de Monceau and Jean-Baptiste Chappe d'Auteroche, to test Ferdinand Berthoud's number 3 sea watch at sea. Berthoud reported that he wore the watch personally in Brest and was present for the tests. The trials took place on the frigate L'Hirondelle.Ferdinand Berthoud, Traité des montres à longitudes, contenant la construction, la description & tous les détails de main-d'œuvre de ces Machines; leurs dimensions, la manière de les éprouver, etc.1, Paris: Ph.-D. Pierres, 1792.
In 1765, Ferdinand Berthoud undertook a second trip to London to meet Harrison through the offices of Count Heinrich von Brühl (1700–1763), Minister of Saxony. Harrison once again refused to present his creations to Berthoud, knowing that he was fully capable of using them to benefit the French Navy. It was the English horologist Thomas Mudge (1715–1795), famous for his development of the first detached lever escapement and a member of the Board of Longitude, who described the working principle of the H4 watch to Berthoud, without him being able to see it for himself (Harrison demanded a payment of £4,000 for a description of his watch, an exorbitant and dissuasive amount).Paris, National archives, Marine G 98, Fol. 11
On 7 May 1766, Ferdinand Berthoud sent a paper to the Duke of Praslin (1712–1785), Count of Choiseul, Minister of the Navy, explaining his plan to build the Number 6 and Number 8 Sea Clocks. He asked him for an allowance of £3,000 in consideration of his work on earlier sea clocks and in anticipation of his estimated costs for the production of two new sea clocks using English technology. The paper clearly set out Ferdinand Berthoud's ambitions to receive this allowance, together with the title of Horologist-Mechanic by appointment to the King and the Navy, and to devote himself to developing sea clocks and determining longitude at sea. On 24 July 1766, the King approved the project to build the two sea clocks and agreed to finance it.Paris, National archives, Marine G 3 571, Fol. 273–274-Paris, National archives, Marine G 97, Fol. 10–13.
To check the performance of the new sea watches, on 3 November 1768, the Duke of Praslin gave Sea Clocks numbers 6 and 8 to Charles-Pierre Claret, the 'Knight of Fleurieu' (1738–1810), explorer, hydrographer, and King's lieutenant, accompanied by Canon Pingré (1711–1796), navy astronomer and geographer and member of France's Royal Academy of Sciences. Their mission was to test the watches on the corvette Isis during a voyage from Rochefort to Santo Domingo and back. The voyage lasted ten months and the trials on the clocks were successful. The findings of Charles-Pierre Claret were published in 1773 under the title Voyage fait par ordre du roi, pour éprouver les horloges marines.Paris, National archives, Marine G 97, Fol. 11–13.
In 1769, Ferdinand Berthoud sent for his nephew Pierre-Louis Berthoud (1754–1813), commonly known as Louis Berthoud, a talented young watchmaker and clockmaker, inviting him to come to Paris from Couvet, Switzerland, to pursue his apprenticeship. Louis helped Ferdinand manufacture and repair the sea clocks his uncle supplied to the French and Spanish navies.
On 1 April 1770, following the successful sea trials of Sea Watches numbers 6 and 8, Ferdinand Berthoud received the title of Horologist-Mechanic by appointment to the King and the Navy, with an annual allowance of £3,000 and responsibility for inspecting the construction of sea clocks. He received a royal commission for 20 sea clocks.Collective work, Catherine Cardinal et al., Ferdinand Berthoud 1727–1807 Horloger mécanicien du Roi et de la Marine, La Chaux-de-Fonds: International Horology Museum, Institut L'homme et le temps, 1984, page 313.
Ferdinand Berthoud's clocks soon became a success and were used on board ship for various test campaigns and charting voyages.
In 1771, Borda boarded the frigate Flore, under Lieutenant Verdun de la Crenne, for a campaign of tests on sea chronometers, sailing from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean. Count Chastenet de Puységur (1752–1809), captain of the corvette Espiègle, accompanied Borda, captain of Boussole, in an expedition to the Canaries and the coast of Africa in 1774 and 1775.Collective work, Catherine Cardinal et al., Ferdinand Berthoud 1727–1807 Horloger mécanicien du Roi et de la Marine, La Chaux-de-Fonds: International Horology Museum, Institut L'homme et le temps, 1984, pages 33–37.
On 1 August 1785, Ferdinand Berthoud gave five clocks to the captain of the Astrolabe, Lapérouse, as he was leaving on an expedition around the world with the aim of adding to the discoveries of James Cook in the Pacific Ocean. The clocks taken on board were lost at sea in the wreck of the Astrolabe in 1788 off the coast of Vanikoro in the Santa Cruz Islands, near the Solomon Islands.
In 1791, Berthoud supplied four marine chronometers to Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux, to aid his expedition to search for Lapérouse with the frigates Recherche and Espérance.Ferdinand Berthoud, Traité des montres à longitudes, contenant la construction, la description & tous les détails de main-d'œuvre de ces Machines; leurs dimensions, la manière de les éprouver, etc., Paris: Ph.-D. Pierres, 1792, p. 15.
In 17951, Berthoud was elected First Class Resident Member of the Mechanical Arts section of France's National Institute (Institut de France). Following the French Revolution, Berthoud moved in to the Louvre and received an allowance from the State, continuing to work on his clocks and maintain sea clocks. His most important priority, however, was the publication of his most significant work: Histoire de la Mesure du temps2 (1802).Institut de France, archives, registers 2 A1 and 3 A1.
On 17 July 1804, Napoleon made Berthoud a Knight of the Legion of Honour, as a member of the institute.letter from the curator of the Legion of Honour Museum, Paris.
On 20 June 1807, Ferdinand Berthoud died childless at the age of 80. He was buried in Groslay, in the Montmorency Valley (Val d'Oise), where a monument commemorates him.Institut de France, archives of the French Academy of Sciences.
Works