In 1770 King William III (1738-1820) purchased a gold watch from the country’s greatest watchmaker, Devon-born Thomas Mudge (1715-94). Mudge had placed his pioneering detached-lever escapement in the mechanism and it made the pocket watch so much more reliable that the field of horology was transformed. It was a present for William’s wife, Queen Charlotte (1744-1818) and it became known as ‘the Queen’s Watch‘. It still sits in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle today [pictured above].
The problem had been that spring-driven watch mechanisms included two wheels that were in constant contact, causing friction and wear, leading to gradual loss of accuracy. Mudge’s solution was an escapement which kept these components apart.
Mudge had refined his exceptional skills during his apprenticeship in London under Yorkshireman George Graham (1673-1751), himself an inventor of several improvements to clocks and watches. After Graham died, Mudge established his own business and customers including royalty flocked to his door.
Mudge published ‘Thoughts on the Means of Improving Watches, Particularly Those for Use at Sea’ in 1765 and after moving back to Devon in 1771 to be near his doctor brother, he worked on a new type of marine chronometer. It is said that some of Mudge’s mechanisms are the most complex ever made.
(Image of Thomas Mudge: Public domain)
