Less known that other watchmakers the we have covered in our Legendary Figures of Watchmaking series, Edward Barlow aided in the creation of the chiming mechanism for clocks and watches. Barlow was born in Warrington in Lancashire in 1639. He took the name of his Benedictine Monk uncle and followed very closely in his footsteps.

At the age of 20 in 1659, Barlow entered the English College at Lisbon and was ordained a priest. He joined an English mission and was described by the churches historian as being a master of Latin and Greek. He also knew Hebrew and was a genius of he Mathematical Sciences. He used his knowledge of the sciences to aid him in his watchmaking journey.

There is a common misconception that Barlow was the inventor of the rack and snail mechanism. He was not the inventor, but used the rack and snail mechanism to help him develop a chiming mechanism that could be used in clocks and watches to chime what time it was. This complication was especially useful at night time when one could not see their clock and luminescent material was not applied to the hands or hour markers of a watch or clock.

There was a dispute as to who should receive the rights to the repeating watch patent - Barlow or fellow London based watchmaker, Daniel Quare. In order to settle the matter in 1687, King James II asked both watchmakers to create a quarter repeater watch. A quarter repeater watch will chime the hours and quarters of the time. King James II and his council would examine the watches to declare the winner of the rights of the patent. The King ultimately gave the patent rights to Quare, who’s watch would chime the hours and quarter with only one button. Barlow’s required two buttons to be pressed - one would chime the hours and the other the quarters. While Barlow did not receive the patent rights, he still was hugely influential in using the rack and snail mechanism to create chiming watches and clocks. His critical thinking allowed for the advancements of striking mechanisms to become more prevalent. Without his contribution, we would not have many of our repeating watches today.

Enjoy!