Having the Time of our Lives in Diss
by Elizabeth Talbot
Diss Auction Rooms is renowned for holding specialist Clocks & Watches auctions. 2025 begins strongly with a sale including 20th Century wristwatches, and a private collection of 19th / 20th Century ornately decorative French clocks and garnitures on 23 January; followed by an auction dedicated to a highly significant single-owner collection of fine and important clocks and watches on 4 March.
Thomas Tompion (1639 – 1713) began life as a third-generation blacksmith in Bedfordshire before becoming apprentice to a London clock maker in 1664. Tompion is likely to have made one or two clocks before he moved to the city because clocks were mainly made for churches, and church clocks were made of iron by blacksmiths. Iron clocks were not very accurate and frequently needed to be reset from a sundial at noon, which meant typically they were only fitted with an hour hand because they were not accurate enough to record minutes.
Although little is known of his early professional life, from his humble beginnings Tompion ultimately became known as the “Father of English watchmaking” because of his important innovations, and by 1695 was teaching his own apprentices. He is thought to have retailed around 5,500 pocket watches during his life, including approximately 400 with complicated repeating mechanisms, plus 700 clocks and a good number of scientific instruments. He was one of the first makers to number his creations in sequence and account for his series of production. The fact that his clocks and watches are so revered within horological circles, means this additional feature adds some frisson to the sourcing of, and accounting for, examples of his work.
Many are to be found in museums and catalogued collections, to be admired from a safe distance, protected by display cases and high-tech security systems. However, occasionally a clock or watch will enter the public domain, offered for sale by auction or specialist, and this marks a rare opportunity for enthusiasts and collectors to own a unique piece of history.
Excitingly, just such an opportunity is approaching because TW Gaze Diss Auction Rooms have a silver gilt cased Tompion pocket watch for sale in their “Clocks & Watches Through the Ages” auction on 4th March. Numbered 171, it has a quarter repeating mechanism and a chain fusee movement with verge escapement. It is fully signed "Thomas Tompion" and has a beautifully ornate back plate and interior.
It is part of a fabulous, single-owner collection of important antique pocket watches and clocks, numbering around 260 lots, and spanning over 400 years of time piece making. Associate Director, Ed Taxil-Webber said “Receiving the instruction to sell this collection has been one of the highlights of my career. It is an exciting privilege to be able to inspect and catalogue these treasures and the auction itself should be amazing.”
The whole collection has been described by one horologist as the best he has seen in over 50 years in the profession. There is such variety and beauty displayed between the many watches that it is difficult to choose any favourite. However, for one specialist, the opportunity to hold a Tompion watch in his hands is the fulfilment of a life-long ambition, spanning many decades, and for lots of people this relatively modest-looking watch will represent the crowning glory of the collection.
It is being presented at auction with a £10,000 – 20,000 estimate, but as to what it is truly worth only time will tell.
