In Memorian Derek Pratt...

Dear All

it is a sad occasion for me to convey to you the message of the passing of outstanding watchmaker Derek Pratt on 16 September 2009. In doing so, I would like to quote the obituary written by a close personal friend of Mr Pratt, Dr. Helmut Crott, founder of the watch auction house bearing his name (kindly provided by Chronometrophilia Society of Switzerland):

"You will certainly have heard about the death of Derek Pratt, our dear friend and Partner at Urban Jürgensen, after a long and severe illness. One of the most important watchmakers of our times has left us! When Peter Baumberger, owner of Urban Jürgensen, told me the sad news, he was struggling with grief and tears. Through our 35 year old friendship I know Peter Baumberger to be one of these few remarkable entrepreneurs, rarely to be found these days.

Besides his professional excellence, he always selected his employees for their human qualities. This also led to the close relationship between him and Derek Pratt, one of the most outstanding watchmakers of our times. Both were bound by friendship and a passion for Urban Jürgensen's masterpieces. Now his companion and important driving force for revolutionary innovations in watches at UJS, master watchmaker Derek Pratt, has died.

I personally, have known and appreciated Derek as a warm-hearted person and passionate lover of fine watches as well as a scientist in horology. He stood well above what is nowadays quickly presented as an innovation in the watch manufacturing industry, but however too often turns out to be another marketing illusion, just brandishing the signet of luxury. He was a dedicated watchmaker, who took great care in the traditional quality of the manufacture of watches with an emphasis on detail and sustainability. As a professor and teacher of watch craftsmanship and lore at the most renowned institutes, he was able to achieve these aims without compromise. A year ago, when I met him for the last time, he told me enthusiastically about his new project: a remake of the famous Harrison No. 3.

Derek Pratt first started as a watchmaker and restorer, working on the highly complex historical watches that were provided by Peter Baumberger, as he was still one of the leading salesmen for antique watches. Towards the end of the seventies, when Baumberger joined the UJS project, Derek Pratt became a consultant and technical director of UJS.

Derek Pratt was born in 1938 in Orpington, Kent, in England. Between 1955 and 1959, he learned the art of watch-manufacturing at the National College of Horology in London, a period followed by an apprenticeship at Smith & Sons in the British capital. Since 1965 he travelled to Switzerland on a regular basis and worked as a restorer and on the development of chronometers, among them, highly complex ones, as well as early iron clocks.

His impressive watch-manufacturing record includes the actual UJS pocket-watch tourbillion with the unique constant winding-system within the cage. It represents a completely different approach towards the problem of the inertia of the balance, giving proof to the interaction between his creative talent and the significant tradition of the centuries old art of watch-manufacture.

During his long career he received many international awards:

1979 : Freeman of England's Worshipful Company of Clockmakers
1982 : Liveryman of the society
1992 : Silver medal of the British Horological Institute
1999 : Gaia Prize of the MIH in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland for distinguished merits in the developments achieved in the field of watch making
2005 : Tompion Goldmedal of the Worshipful Clockmakers Company's society.

His latest masterpiece, the oval pocket watch with flying tourbillon, winding mechanism, detend escapement, power reserve and Réaumur represents an homage to some of the most important watchmakers of all times, like Breguet, Arnold and Professor Helwig. The assembly of this unique watch took more than ten years.

Everyone, who knew Derek Pratt will not only miss him for his expertise in watches, but also and especially for his kind and helpful way. Chronometers are made by people for people!

A recognition we certainly owe to Derek Pratt.

Yours sincerely,

Dr. Helmut Crott"

Mr Pratt's most famous watch, the Urban Jürgensen pocket watch with 1-minute tourbillon, with constant force escapement, beating dead seconds (pics linked from tempered online):