Ferdinand Berthoud
Franco-Swiss horologist (1727–1807)
Ferdinand Berthoud (French pronunciation: [fɛʁdinɑ̃ bɛʁtu]; 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-?).
“Ferdinand Berthoud” enters the record as franco-Swiss horologist (1727–1807). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Ferdinand, Berthoud and Franco-Swiss can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q124411. VIAF identifies the subject as 42619091. The Library of Congress control number is n86842567. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1727, 1807, 1753 and 1717.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ferdinand Berthoud” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.