New Exhibit - the Sussex Tompion The Sussex Tompion Table Clock truly expresses the engineering genius of its maker, Thomas Tompion. It was made around 1680, just seven years after he had completed what was probably his first clock, the elegant Olivewood Tompion Table Clock, also exhibited on Clocktime. This highly complex eight-day, two-train clock has both grande sonnerie and repeat striking technologies working in harmony with one another within a single mechanism. At the time, this was a masterful feat of engineering. By way of comparison, Tompion’s contemporaries tended to produce either grande sonnerie striking or quarter-repeating mechanisms – never together. John C Taylor says that the mechanism of the Sussex Tompion is one of the most complex and difficult to understand of early British clocks. This particular Tompion clock is the first known one to feature his security measures. There is no door on the sides or back of the timekeeper, and the underside of the clock has a large brass plate screwed into the body with four fixing screws. It takes a lot of work to remove it, although Clocktime visitors can view the inner workings with ease today. Enjoy this new exhibit and watch the video to discover the lengths the clock owners went to in order to tell the time at night, without resorting to the perilous naked flame-illuminated night clocks.
