Clocktime: Sussex Tompion Table Clock c1680, 02 Grande Sonnerie

Thomas Tompion – The Sussex Tompion two-train, full grande sonnerie, repeating and striking table clock with asymmetrical fret.

Join Dr John C Taylor OBE from the Clocktime digital museum as he discusses the Grande Sonnerie striking of the Sussex Tompion.

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How do you tell the time at night? You had to find your tinder box, find in the dark, find your steel, find your flint, find your taper, find your candle, and then strike in the dark a spark onto the tin, blow it up, light your taper, light the candle, and come and see what the time was. So here was a very simple mechanism. You could have it at your bedside and you had the carrying handle and the locks to take it upstairs, set it going again and either side is a left-hand or the right-hand side and pull it to give you the time. So exactly on the half-hour, the flirt mechanism will go 'Bing Bong!' for the half-hour, the second quarter, and it will then strike the hour. Ding Dong! One, two, three, four, the half-hour and 4 o'clock, half past 4. So we're just coming up to quarter to 4 when it will strike the third quarter. Ding-dong-dong. Ding, ding, ding, ding. So the three: ding-dong-dong and then one, two, three, four. Three quarters past 4. Quarter to 5. So it's called a grande sonnerie. It also does this every hour of the day and quarter but you can turn it off at night with the quarter dial here.