By Michael Thompson
Nautical Namesake
W
atch distributor and veteran watch retailer Ray
Grenon is well acquainted with the names of
horological geniuses. While walking the halls
of Baselworld earlier this year Grenon spotted
the name L. Kendall, a historically important 18th century British
watchmaker, atop a two-story stand in Hall 1.
“I recognized the name L. Kendall from the history of marine
chronometers,” he explains. The booth itself had a nautical theme.
“The watches were on top of these acrylic displays that looked
almost like waves. The pieces looked spectacular and the large,
multi-level dials made of mother-of-pearl and the detailed casework
really helped them catch your eye. I was hooked right away.”
Grenon, who owns Grenon’s of Newport in Newport, Rhode
Island, and who distributes several watch brands in North America
(Speake-Marin, Alexander Shorokhoff, Zannetti, Azimuth and
Schaumburg), investigated L. Kendall and its new watch collection.
He quickly decided to add the brand to his roster at the About Time
Luxury Group, his distribution company.
The Swiss watch company is named after Larcum Kendall who
in 1765 was appointed to the Board of Longitude as a watchmaking expert and then commissioned to make a marine chronometer,
later known as the K1. Kendall completed that watch in 1769 and
immediately placed the watch in the able hands of Captain James
Cook, who took it on his famous second voyage on HMS Resolution.
Captain Cook had such faith in the K1’s accuracy he again requested the Kendall timepiece on his third and final voyage that mapped
the South Sea Islands for the first time. The K1 is now displayed at
the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, London.
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2016 | Wristwatch
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