A search of auction house archives shows that George Field and Co was manufacturing ship's binnacles in the 19th century. These would have carried a relatively small compass.
http://www.artfact.com/catalog/searc...ALSE&cs=0&ns=1
The 1891 Warwickshire census has a George Field, 18, employed as a Birmingham brass founder.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb....rg_12_2431.htm
Mark