Graham

George Graham was born in Cumberland in 1673 and apprenticed in London to Thomas Tompion, the finest clockmaker of the age, whose niece he later married. He is remembered for two inventions that shaped precision timekeeping: the deadbeat escapement of 1715, which removed the recoil that had limited pendulum accuracy, and the mercurial pendulum of 1726, which cancelled out the expansion of the rod as temperature changed. Clocks he made kept time to within a second a day at a period when a minute was thought respectable.

He also built the orrery that gave the instrument its name, lent money to a young John Harrison so that he could pursue the marine chronometer, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. He was known in London simply as Honest George Graham.

The watch company carrying his name is a modern one, founded in Switzerland in 1995 and based in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Its Chronofighter is the piece most people recognise, with the chronograph trigger mounted on the left of the case rather than the right — a layout drawn from the oversized levers RAF pilots needed in order to operate a stopwatch while wearing flying gloves.

Graham holds 2 models, from £5,495 to £7,995. Half cost less than £6,745, and a quarter less than £6,120. 2 of 2 are automatic. 1 is stocked by more than one retailer, giving 3 offers in total. Prices are checked nightly against the retailers’ own feeds.

1715

George Graham invents the deadbeat escapement

1726

The mercurial pendulum compensates for temperature

1995

The modern Swiss company is founded in his name