George Graham was a leading English clockmaker, watchmaker and instrument maker of the early eighteenth century, renowned for innovations that greatly improved the accuracy of timekeeping. Born in Cumberland in the 1670s, he moved to London and worked for the great clockmaker Thomas Tompion, whose niece he married and whose business he continued after Tompion's death.
Graham is credited with perfecting the deadbeat escapement for clocks, which eliminated the recoil of the anchor escapement and became standard in precision regulators, and with developing the mercury-compensated pendulum to counter the effects of temperature. He also refined the cylinder escapement for watches. In addition to clocks and watches, he made important astronomical instruments, including quadrants and transit instruments for observatories, and he was a Fellow of the Royal Society. Graham was known for his generosity, notably offering support to the young John Harrison as he worked on his marine timekeepers. When he died in 1751 he was buried in Westminster Abbey alongside Tompion. Clocks and watches signed by Graham are rare, beautifully made and highly valued, and they are studied as benchmarks of English horology at its finest.
