The Clockmakers Museum

London is  one of the greatest tourist destination of the world . This great city has lot to offer from its wide range selection .One among them is the Clockmakers Museum .The Clockmakers Museum is situated at Guildhall off Aldermanbury in the City of London. In 1979 the Company set up The Museum and Educational Trust as a means of financing its Library and Collection in the most efficient way possible. The purpose of the fund is to maintain, present and increase the world famous collections of clocks, watches, manuscripts, books and pictures. In 1989 the fund was substantially increased by a bequest from the late Reginald Beloe, a Past Master of the Company. The best way to see the London is in to the open top bus tours that pass through most of the attractions.

The Clockmakers Museum has a Portrait gallery, library manuscripts and stolen watches. There is no horological institution in the world which can boast such a long and distinguished membership of famous clock, watch and instrument makers, as The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers of London.

Although the name of every member is known, very few portraits and engravings of 17th, 18th and 19th century freemen and liverymen of the Company survive.

The Clockmakers’ Company Library was founded in 1813. It consisted at first of the ancient manuscripts of the Company on which most standard reference works about British clockmakers have since been based.

It soon grew to include many printed books, often presented by their authors, or annotated by famous clock and watchmakers. It is now celebrated for its holding of rare clockmakers’ workbooks and related documents (such as Victor Kullberg’s Records and many 18th century holograph manuscripts by John Harrison).

In 1925, by agreement with the Corporation of London, the Clockmakers’ Library was placed in the City’s Guildhall Library (Aldermanbury, London EC2P 2EJ), so that it could be made freely available for consultation by the public. It has remained there ever since.

The Clockmakers’ Collection was begun in 1814 and is therefore the oldest collection specifically of clocks and watches in the world. It has been on permanent public display (also in Guildhall Library, Aldermanbury, London EC2P 2EJ) since 1874. Entry is free

The Collection is shown in a single room, containing at any one time some 600 English and European watches, 30 clocks and 15 marine timekeepers, together with a number of rare horological portraits. The majority of items in the Collection range from c.1600 to c.1850. The Bridgeman Art Library have images of many of them.

Perhaps the most important group within the Collection is the marine timekeepers,
The Harrison case on the left contains "H5", to the right is the work of Mudge, Arnold, Earnshaw and their contemporaries.

illustrating the importance of horology in the science of navigation. Examples are a marine timekeeper of 1724 by Henry Sully, a silver deck watch by Thomas Earnshaw (used by Captain George Vancouver in the discovery by Europeans of the Island now bearing his name) and the celebrated 5th marine timekeeper made by John Harrison and completed in 1770.

The Library and Collection are maintained by the Clockmakers’ Museum and Educational Trust employs a part-time consultant keeper. Through the generosity of the Corporation of London, they are housed and overseen on a daily basis by Guildhall Library staff.

The Friends of the Clockmakers’ Museum was founded in 2005. Its purpose is to support the Museum and Educational Trust of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers in its work. This includes running, insuring, maintaining and augmenting the oldest horological Museum in the world, as well as encouraging horological education in all its forms.

Visit London and its famous attractions in an open top bus tours and enjoy the hop on and hop off during your London tour.


Visitor Information:


Opening Hours

The Museum is generally open from Monday to Saturday each week (except public holidays and the Saturdays before Bank Holiday Mondays) from 9.30am until 4.30pm, though it may be closed (briefly) from time to time for re-winding and adjusting the clocks.