Thomas Tompion, the most highly respected English clockmaker, was born at Ickwell Green, Bedfordshire in 1639. He moved to London and joined the Clockmakers’ Company as a Free Brother in 1671. In 1674 he set up his workshop at the sign of The Dial and Three Crowns in Water Lane, on the corner of Fleet Street, and shortly afterwards met Dr. Robert Hooke, the leading physicist and mathematician of his day. Through Dr. Hooke, Tompion came to the notice of Charles II and from this time held an unrivalled position in English horology. He devised a numbering system for his clocks and watches between 1680 and 1685 which was continued after his death, in 1713, by his successor George Graham.

Edward Banger was born in Somerset in 1668 and was apprenticed to Thomas Tompion, through Joseph Ashby, in 1687. Banger married Tompion’s niece, Margaret Kent, in December 1694 and completed his apprenticeship to become Free of the Clockmakers’ Company in July 1695. Edward Banger was clearly a talented maker and in around 1700/1701, Tompion took him into partnership, both of their names then appearing on their clock and watches. The partnership continued until 1707 or 1708 but then, for an unknown reason, it was suddenly terminated. Banger left Tompion’s business and although he continued in the trade, very little is known of him until he died intestate in 1719. He was 55 years old. Whatever the reason for the spilt, it was clearly acrimonious as Tompion left a legacy to his niece, Margaret, in his will, stipulating that Edward Banger was to have no claim on the inheritance.

Clock number 454 dates just prior to the break up of the partnership. A golden age when Thomas Tompion and Edward Banger were producing some of their highest quality work. Significantly smaller than their standard sized clocks, the present clock has a jewel-like quality and is an example of the very finest English clockmaking of all time. Incorporating Tompion’s own quarter repeating system, this clock would have been a prized possession of its original owner, demonstrating the very latest early 18th century horological technology. After more than three hundred years, the skills of its makers have scarcely been bettered and continue to influence clockmakers in the twenty first century.