Clocktime: The Olivewood Tompion Table Clock c1673, 02 Dialplate Features & Alarm

Thomas Tompion - Olivewood Tompion architectural turntable-base tic-tac escapement table clock.
Join Dr John C Taylor OBE from the Clocktime digital museum as he discusses the dialplate features and alarm on The Olivewood Tompion Table Clock, circa 1673.
Discover more about early and antique clocks and watches...
clocktime.co.uk/artefacts/oli...
So, why is this clock different and important? Well, it appears to be the first and the earliest surviving of all Tompion's signed works and it sits on a turntable and you can actually admire it by turning it right round and you can see all the sides on a table. You've got a window in the back to see the pendulum and then you've got the glass sides to see the movement and everything working. So, it's designed to be admired rather than just to be on a wall or shut away. You can see all the way around and what a beautiful clock it is. On the lower edge of the dial is a calendar aperture and you can see the date, the 25th in the aperture and that will change just after midnight and the hands are just gone midnight now. If I move them round, you'll see that's one o'clock in the morning, two o'clock in the morning, three o'clock in the morning. So, it's just the same as British summertime changing in the early hours of the morning. On the side of the clock is a pull cord for the shutters and the maintaining power and all you do is hold a little knob and pull and that cocks the shutters and cocks the maintaining power, opening the shutters so you can wind the clock. So, you can see the shutter slowly beginning to close now and it will then drop out and cover over the winding holes for the going train, the striking train and the alarm train. To set the alarm, the tail end of the hour hand is used and you move the disc around, so if you want it to go off at seven o'clock in the morning, you move the disc until the tail is in line with the seven, and then in the morning at seven o'clock, it will go off. So, to switch off the alarm in the morning, you reach out of bed and switch the little nib over there and stop the alarm. How about that for an alarm clock on your bedside table?