OLD CLOCKS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 726, 29 December 1933, Page 5

OLD CLOCKS

l ("Post" Special Correspondent.)

INTERESTING EXHIBITION HELD FOR CHARITY IN LONDON ONE LENT BY KING

London, JNOV. Zb. If Thomas Tompion, the Father of English Clockmakers, were able to rise from his tomb in Westminster Abbey aird peep into a room of the Royal Exchange, he would find a policeman standing guard over an array of some *of the best docks he ever made. Tompion lived 250 years ago, in the days of Charles II., and he would spend weeks in maldng one clock perfect. Small wo.nder, then, that to-day his works are each valued at thousands of pounds, and the collector's eyes glisten when he sees the twiriing signature, "Tho. Tompion" on a clock face shown to him. The exhibition in the Royal Exchange has been promoted by the two well-known London enthusiasts Mr. F. H. Green and Mr. Ernest Watkins, who have taken endless trouble to secure the loan of about 40 Tompions for the benefit of the Bow Church (Cheapside) Restoration Fund. The Silver King The King has given his permission for the exhibition of one magnificent Tompion — you wind it up once a year! — from Buckingham Palace; and Lord Mostyn has allowed the world-famous "Silver King" clock to be shown publicly for the first time. Tho "Silver King" is a masterpiece in gilt. It, too, needs only on annual winding, and Lord Mostyn has a hook containing the names of every person, famous or otherwise, who has performed the rite in the last 125 years. Near the King's clock is another "grandfather," which is clock, calendar and hook of reference. On its face are given the time, the day of tho month, the time of the tides, the correct phase of the moon, and the number of weeks left in the year.