📅 Sunday, July 26, 2026
While not a wristwatch, the Great Clock of Westminster, famously known as Big Ben, was considered the most accurate public clock in the world upon its completion in 1859. Its incredible precision was partly due to its innovative double three-legged gravity escapement, designed by Edmund Beckett Denison, which isolated the pendulum from the varying forces of the clock’s gear train. This design allowed it to maintain accuracy within a second, a remarkable feat for its era and scale.
The secret to the clock’s remarkable accuracy lies in its ingenious engineering rather than sheer size. Denison’s gravity escapement ensured that wind, rain, or the enormous weight of the hands themselves had virtually no effect on the pendulum’s swing. This allowed the pendulum to oscillate with extraordinary consistency, making the Great Clock a benchmark for precision long before electronic timekeeping existed. Its reliability was so impressive that other tower clocks around the world later adopted variations of the same escapement design.
Another fascinating feature is the clock’s surprisingly simple method of regulation. If the clock began running slightly slow, the keeper didn’t adjust gears or springs—instead, old British pennies were placed on top of the pendulum. Each penny raises the pendulum’s centre of mass just enough to make the clock gain approximately 0.4 seconds per day. Adding or removing a single coin allowed the clock’s accuracy to be fine-tuned with incredible precision, a practice that continues to this day.
Although modern atomic clocks have long surpassed it in accuracy, Big Ben remains one of the greatest achievements in mechanical horology. More than 165 years after it first chimed across London, the Great Clock continues to keep remarkably accurate time while standing as one of the world’s most recognizable symbols of engineering excellence. It serves as a reminder that some of history’s finest timekeepers weren’t worn on the wrist—they towered over entire cities.
💡 Did You Know?
Despite popular belief, “Big Ben” is actually the name of the 13.5-ton Great Bell inside the tower—not the clock or the tower itself. The clock is officially known as the Great Clock of Westminster, while the tower has been called the Elizabeth Tower since 2012, when it was renamed to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee.
Category: Watch History
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