In the words of Wikipedia:
"John Harrison (3 April 1693 – 24 March 1776) was a self–educated English carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer, a long–sought–after device for solving the problem of calculating longitude while at sea.
"Harrison's solution revolutionized navigation and greatly increased the safety of long–distance sea travel. The problem he solved was considered so important following the Scilly naval disaster of 1707 that the British Parliament offered financial rewards of up to £20,000 (equivalent to £3.17 million in 2020) under the 1714 Longitude Act.
"In 1730, Harrison presented his first design, and worked over many years on improved designs, making several advances in time–keeping technology, finally turning to what were called sea watches. Harrison gained support from the Longitude Board in building and testing his designs. Toward the end of his life, he received recognition and a reward from Parliament. Harrison came 39th in the BBC's 2002 public poll of the 100 Greatest Britons."
After World War I, Harrison's timepieces were rediscovered at the Royal Greenwich Observatory by retired naval officer Lieutenant Commander Rupert T. Gould. They were in a highly decrepit state, and Gould spent many years documenting, repairing and restoring them, on a voluntary basis. He designated the timepieces from No.1 to No.5, later reclassifying them as H1 to H5.
There was also a design for a sixth watch, which became known as H6 or the 'lesser watch', but no evidence that it was ever made.
Harrison came to the attention of the layman with the publication in 1995 of Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time, by the American writer Dava Sobel. Longitude became a best–seller on both sides of the Atlantic, and was made into a TV film of the same name, with Michael Gambon as Harrison.
It was in Only Fools & Horses' 1996 Christmas Special, which was billed as the final episode, that the Trotters stumbled upon what (unknown to them) was Harrison's legendary 'lesser watch' – the H6. Comedy gold was extracted from their reactions during the auction scenes in which the watch, which Del had expected to realise around £40,000, was eventually sold for £6.2 million. It was the realisation of Del's perennial exhortation to Rodney: "This time next year, we could be millionaires!"
Only Fools & Horses' creator, John Sullivan, was eventually persuaded to write three more 'Specials', showing the Trotters living their subsequent life of luxury. But he would never be able to cap Time On Our Hands, the 1996 Christmas Special and the 'original' last ever episode.
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