Thomas Tompion is the most celebrated of English Clockmakers and is known for producing large numbers of high-quality clocks and watches that conformed to a distinctive house-style. In the early 1680s, he began applying serial numbers to his clocks; he usually stamped these on the backplate and the inside of the door frame.

This clock is particularly interesting as it was made during a period of transition. Dated to around 1690, it features a rectangular dial (178x208mm) with subsidiary dials for strike/silent and regulation of the timekeeping. When new, this design was a new addition to Tompion's output, and yet the case conforms to the earlier production of clocks. As a result, the upper part of the dial is partially obscured by the top of the front door. The fact that this clock has survived unaltered is remarkable, only one other table clock from this transitional period is known to have survived unaltered (No.155).

The backplate is profusely engraved with scrolling foliage, with a basket of fruit and flowers to the centre, above which sits a squirrel eating nuts. Jeremy Evans identifies the engraver as G155 (See. Thomas Tompion at the dial and Three Crowns, AHS 2001) who was responsible for the finest decorative work on Tompion’s output. The twin fusee movement runs for eight-days between winding, has a verge escapement, strikes the hours, and repeats the quarters on demand. Tompion designed a beautifully complex all-or-nothing system for repeating the hours and quarters, which prevents a false telling of the time if the repeat levers are not pulled to their full extent.

The case has two rectangular slots that line up with the two brass pulley wheels on the repeat levers, suggesting that the clock may have originally been fitted with push/pull bar for repeating, rather than the more common silk cord.