![]() Order signed Anne R, London,October 20, 1713, to Robert Earl, High Treasurer, directing him to dispense sums to John Holbech, who managed the King's finances, to be dispensed to Thomas Herbert. When William died, Herbert had yet to be paid, as it seems William had left debts to be settled from a sinking fund during Queen Anne's reign. Herbert's tasks included not only the creation of timekeeping devices, but as a petition he filed to receive pay due to him for his services states, "He had mended, looked after, and kept in order the King's clocks in his private lodgings and palaces as well as the great clock at Hampton Court." He had also done so at Whitehall, Windsor, Newmarket, Kensington, and Richmond, among other places, another petition explains. The first English society of clockmakers had not even been founded until the late 1630s. Although forms of time keeping devices had been around for a couple of centuries, the pendulum clock had not been invented until the 2nd half of the 17th century. This was an incredibly early period of clockmaking. The latter gave his own watch to Sir Thomas on his way to his execution. He was almost surely a relative, perhaps a nephew, of Sir Thomas Herbert, Clockmaker and Watchmaker to King Charles I. During much of his reign and at his death, the official Clockmaker and Watchmaker to the King was Thomas Herbert. The curb pins are positioned on a sector rack and are moved by a pinion on which a graduated and numbered disc is mounted.King William III died on Maand was succeeded by Queen Anne, his Sister-in-Law. Tompion is credited with inventing the form of balance spring regulation found in pocket watches until the late nineteenth century. Tompion fecit, 1675," one of which was signed for King Charles II and the same is also addressed by William Derham in his book “The Artificial Clockmaker”. Several other types were tried out, including one with two balances that were geared together to eliminate motion faults - "Robert Hooke invent. Tompion developed some of the earliest timepieces with balance springs, which had the potential to be far more accurate than earlier watches, thanks to his association with scientist Robert Hooke. They proved to be extremely precise, and they were crucial in obtaining the right computations required for astronomical observations. In 1676, King Charles II commissioned Tompion to build two identical clocks based on Hooke's concept of a very long pendulum swinging in a very tiny arc and were controlled by a deadbeat escapement when the Royal Observatory was established. Tompion was one of the early members of the Clockmaker’s Company of London, joining in 1671 and rising through the ranks to become a master in 1704. This, combined with the exceptional skills of the workers he employed, earned him a legendary status throughout the world. His early clock making style was centred on the superior quality of the materials he used as well as the sound design of his productions. ![]() He was the eldest son of a blacksmith and most likely worked as one until 1664, when he apprenticed with a London clockmaker. Thomas Tompion (1639 – 14 November 1713, London) was an English watchmaker, mechanician and clockmaker born in Bedfordshire, England and is fondly regarded as the “Father of English Clockmaking.
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