This compass is more British than American, and in Britain it would have been referred to as a "circumferentor." The face reads clockwise. The needle rim is graduated to single degrees, and numbered counterclockwise from north. The "Messer London" inscription refers to Benjamin Messer, an instrument maker who was in business during the years 1789–1827.
Ref: Gloria Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers 1550–1851 (London, 1995), p. 187.