Thomas Tompion - Biography

Biography

Thomas Tompion was born around 1639 and was baptized on 25 July 1639 in Northill, Bedfordshire, England. The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers maintains the family cottage in Ickwell, his home village. He was the eldest son of a blacksmith, also named Thomas Tompion, and probably worked as a blacksmith until 1664 when he became an apprentice of a London clockmaker. Very little of his earlier years is known. The first reference to Tompion in London is recorded around the end of 1670 in Water Lane (now Whitefriars Street) off Fleet Street.

His early clock making style shows a strong connection with Joseph Knibb. This is of interest as Tompion's most important early patron was the scientist Robert Hooke who may well have known the Knibb family, both were in Oxford. Hooke's relationship with Tompion was the key to his success as it opened doors to Royal patronage as well as giving him access to the latest technology.

Tompion's excellence was based on the sound design of his productions as well as the high quality of the materials used. This together with the outstanding skills of the workmen he employed gave him an unrivalled reputation throughout the known world. Many of these workmen had French and Dutch Huguenot origins, for example Daniel and Nicholas Delander, Henry Callot and Charles Molyns, the latter possibly related to the family Windmills. Importantly, those Huguenots who worked for him in the sphere of decorative arts were able to execute Tompion's demands for the high quality workmanship on which he founded his unrivalled reputation. Tompion was an early member of the Clockmakers' Company of London — he joined in 1671 and became a master in 1704. He was also one of the few watchmakers to become a member of the Royal Society.

When the Royal Observatory was established in 1676, King Charles II selected Tompion to create two identical clocks based on Hooke's idea of a very long pendulum swinging in a very small arc. These were fixed in the Octagon room, each was driven by a dead beat escapement designed by Richard Towneley, with both clocks only needing to be wound once a year. They proved to be very accurate and were instrumental in achieving the correct calculations needed for astronomical observations.

Due to his relationship with the scientist Robert Hooke he made some of the first watches with balance springs, these were much more accurate than earlier watches. Although several different kinds were experimented with, the final form was with a spiral balance spring and double balances geared together in order to eliminate errors of motion. The first of this kind was made for King Charles II and was signed "Robert Hooke invent. 1658. T. Tompion fecit, 1675". William Derham mentions this in his book The Artificial Clockmaker although the watch, it seems, has not survived.

It is often incorrectly stated that Tompion invented the first balance spring regulator used in pocket watches, widely used until the late 19th century. With this, the curb pins are mounted on a sector rack, moved by a pinion fitted with a graduated disc. Although many refer to this as a 'Tompion regulator' in fact such regulating devices were already in use by the 1670s on French balance spring watches .

As England's most prominent watchmaker, Tompion's workshop built about 5,500 watches and 650 clocks during his career. Tompion's clocks are known for their ingenuity of design and robust construction. His three-train grande sonnerie bracket clocks are masterpieces. Those interested in mechanics are particularly attracted to the mechanisms of such clocks and his repeating watches as they are quite complex, indeed it could even be said over-complex, though efficient in operation. He shares this characteristic with the later French Swiss watch maker Breguet.

Another of Tompions innovations was to create a numbering system for his spring and long-case clocks which is thought to be the first time that a serial numbering system was applied to manufactured goods.