Set of seven Admiralty (Hydrographic Office) chronometer issue cards giving place of issue and date. These thin paper cards were designed to slide into a brass frame inside the chronometer or deck watch box, and were to record the date at which the instrument was last issued from the Department responsible for servicing them. The date thus records when the instrument was last cleaned and put in good order, as a means of assessing its likely condition and reliability. The 'department concerned' changed its name and location several times over the years and these cards are a useful record of this:

1939: Royal Observatory, Greenwich

1943: ‘H.M. Chronometer Depot’, Bradford on Avon (moved from Bristol about 1940)

1963: (by now shown as 'Form 213') ‘Chronometer Department’, Royal Greenwich Observatory, Herstmonceux Castle, Sussex

1965: ‘Chronometer Branch’, Hydrographer of the Navy, Herstmonceux Castle, Sussex

1975: ‘Chronometer Section’ Hydrographic Department, Ministry of Defence, Herstmonceux Castle, Hailsham, Sussex

The Chronometer Section officially closed in 1985.