Time runs faster on a London watch

Good morning and welcome back to your office and the London Presence Blog. The long weekend is over and here you are with some fresh news and information from London. With the Olympics now passed and the weather turning for the worse you couldn’t be blamed for thinking the summer’s over, however British Summer Time doesn’t end until 26th October when the clocks go back. Whilst you may gain an hour then, a busy week around here might feel like you’ve lost ten times as many. Having said that, the day after a bank holiday always drags like a ball and chain.

In London being in time often means beating the clock – but without persuing too many cliches about how ‘clocks run faster in London’ we can nevertheless outline that our city became a thriving community for clock-making at one time. The story of the London clock is old and obscure, and though it derives from a period as far back as the 16th century, it was primarily a French industry, developing in Soho at that time. Since then this tradition flourished in the 18th century when watchmakers operated in Clerkenwell, the home of your virtual office!

Of course this is the city of the great Big Ben clock, whose minute hand has pulled and pushed us in every direction since its completion in 1870. Peter Debaufre, Christopher Pinchbeck, Francis Perigal and James Short are just some of the most famous members of the Clockmakers’ Company. This industry also brought a number of inventions and improvements to the established design and mechanics of time-pieces.

To know more about the English clock story here an interesting link to its British history. In the mean time we will keep updating you on all areas surrounding your virtual office and London life, new and old. We don’t waste time at London Presence so keep checking our daily tidbits, don’t waste a second.