It is known that the skill of watchmaking is intricate.
There are several parts (more than hundreds) that undergo precision assembly
and provide a vital function of keeping consistent time. What is not known that
the earliest timekeeping devices – clocks were made by blacksmiths. It is
inconceivable to think that a profession that used rough tools as a hammer and
chisel and used the bang-bang technique to fashion tools and implements were
the earliest clockmakers.
The early years of
Thomas Tompion
This story is true and it is also the genesis of a great
English clock and watch maker known by the name of Thomas Tompion. He was born
at a time in England when clocks were sent to the local blacksmith to repair. His
father was a blacksmith and Thomas was apprenticed in the art of shoeing horses
and making farm implements. Once his father was called to repair the clapper of
a church bell. On climbing the church tower Thomas was so intrigued by the
weights, wheels and pulleys in the belfry that his curiosity got the better of
him and as soon as he came back to his father’s smithy he started to create a
replica of what he had seen. Remember he did not have any notes or drawings.
All he had was his memory. Eventually he succeeded in making a crude copy of
the movement and he had created his first clock
Tompion meets Robert
Hooke
He continued to learn the skills by himself until he was 25
years old when he joined a clockmaker in London as an apprentice. It was at
this time that Robert Hooke the top scientist of that era was in need of a quadrant
(the curved piece in a sextant that is used to measure angles of planets and
stars) that required exact specifications. The known clockmakers of that period
were unable to produce such a quadrant. Thomas Tompion took on the challenge
and created the quadrant; it was so perfect that it is said nobody in the
present age would be able to produce such a quadrant with the tools that
Tompion possessed.
Thomas Tompion continued and became an established
clockmaker and is credited with the Hooke-Tompion movement. To this day a
Tompion masterpiece (in his lifetime he produced six hundred clocks and six
thousand watches) is considered the ultimate in craftsmanship. In fact during
December of 2016 Sotheby’s is dedicating an auction celebrating English watches
under the title “The Genius of Thomas Tompion”. Perpetual Time reviews is a dedicated web resource that also celebrates British
horology. Several Perpetual Time reviews have
appreciated the restoration skills of present day British watchmakers who have
the same kind of passion as Thomas Tompion.
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