George Graham, 1673-1751, apprenticed to Henry Aske 1688-95 and believed to have gone to work for Thomas Tompion almost immediately. In 1704 he married Tompion's niece Elizabeth and became a partner in 1711 until Tompion's death in 1713.
This unusual timepiece has a number of interesting and highly individual features. The position of the rise-and-fall necessitates the use of the transitional break-arch case and the finials are a variant of those on a few clocks in the architectural period particularly by Joseph Knibb, vide Dawson, Drover & Parkes, Early English Clocks, London 1982, p. 189, pl. 256. The front door escutcheons were used by Tompion up until about the series number 300 indicating that Graham was using old stock, similarly the chapter ring. The spandrels are very similar to a small number used by Tompion on his miniature bracket clocks and their size therefore limited the amount of room available for the curious signature. The sound frets are another unusual feature, similar quality work actually signed John Hall, Kase Maker exists on a miniature bracket clock by Du Chesne, Ex. Prestige collection, Sotheby's, 29 April 1968, lot 52 and now at Lyme Park. The movement has particularly long latches and tall backplate to accomadate the long rack for the rise-and-fall system presumably used for precision adjustment. The absence of the pull repeat system could mean that the client saw no need for that extra expense, however its individuality and overall quality of finishing meant that it could not have cost much less than a more standard timepiece