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| | Museum Focus: Worshipful Company of Clockmakers by by Richard Alan Mones from Antiques & Fine Art magazine |
 | | Therefore, the Clockmakers Company was founded1 as a trade guild to control the training, production, and quality of the clocks and watches made in the City of London, and in 1631 King Charles I granted the guild a royal charter. |
 | | In return for rigorous protection by the company from outside competition, the members had to submit to strict regulations concerning how they treated their customers, fellow makers, and apprentices, and the standards their work was held to. |
 | | By the late 1670s, the trade was prospering, in part due to further scientific advances: the "recoil" or "anchor" escapement, which allowed a long pendulum in the clock, and the "balance spring," which improved the accuracy of watches. |
| www.antiquesandfineart.com /articles/article.cfm?request=437 (1762 words) |
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