Tompion, Thomas

Tompion, Thomas, 1639?–1713, English clockmaker. When the Royal Observatory at Greenwich was established in 1676, Tompion was chosen to make two clocks, to be wound only once a year, which proved to be more accurate timepieces than those available to other observatories. Utilizing the new inventions of the cylinder escapement (which enabled the making of flat watches) and the balance spring (discovered by Robert Hooke), he raised clockmaking and watchmaking to a fine art. Several of his clocks survive and still run.

---

Tompion, Thomas

Bracket clock with oak case, ebony veneer, and gilt bronze mounts by Thomas Tompion, c. 1690; …

(credit: Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London)

(baptized July 25, 1639, Northill, Bedfordshire, Eng.—died Nov. 20, 1713, London) British clockmaker. Working closely with Robert Hooke and Edward Barlow, he made one of the first English watches with a balance spring and patented the cylinder escapement. The most famous clockmaker of his time, he is remembered as the father of British clockmaking.