The quintant has a brass black-lacquered triangle-pattern frame, with a wooden handle. The double-ended tangent screw is positioned on the front of the index arm and the clamping screw is on the back. The instrument has four shades, one purple, two green, and one orange, and three horizon shades, two green and one orange. Index-glass adjustment is made by a square-headed screw and a detached key. The half silvered horizon glass is moved by a milled knob, a clamp, a square-headed screw and a detached key.

Attached to the quintant is a magnifier on a 109mm double-jointed swivelling arm. The glass shade is missing. There is also an attached threaded telescope bracket in two parts; fitted for correcting collimation error. It has perpendicular adjustment made by a rising-piece and a milled knob. The telescope is 178 mm in length with an inverted image and four cross wires. A second telescope is 92 mm and a third 225mm, both have an erect image (star finder). Accompanying the instrument is a sight-tube, which is 73 mm in length, two shaded eyepieces in red and yellow, a third eyepiece, in green, is from another instrument, an adjusting key, and two L-shaped brackets.

The instrument has a polished brass limb with an inlaid silver scale from -5° to 155° by 10 arcminutes, measuring to 144°. The quintant has a silver vernier measuring to 10 arcseconds, with zero at the right.

The quintant is contained in a square fitted wooden box.