The present clock is one of the celebrated series known to have been made by Jump, of which no two are quite the same. It is particularly unusual with a gilt brass and shagreen case, large moon phases at 12 and the linear digital calendar.
Jump The first recorded clockmaking member of the Jump family was Richard Huyton Jump, who worked for Benjamin Louis Vulliamy. Richard's sons Joseph and Richard Thomas joined the Vulliamy workshop; on Vulliamy's death in 1854 Joseph and a third brother, Alfred, became successors to Vulliamy. They were at 1a Old Bond Street and later at 55 Pall Mall where they first made the arched-case carriage clocks for which they became famous. In the late 19th century they moved to 93 Mount Street where they remained until the firm ceased trading in 1934. In November 1910 Jump & Son were awarded the Royal Warrant. Richard Thomas was the inventor of the clockmaker's sector, a proportional gauge chiefly used for wheels and pinions. The firm made a wide variety of clocks, many of them in the style of Breguet. From at least 1883, they made a number of ?humpback? bracket clocks similar to those of Breguet, and also overhauled and recased the astronomical clock by Samuel Watson in the Royal collection.
Silver ?humpback? carriage clocks were introduced by Breguet circa 1813. During Breguet?s lifetime only a few were made; they are among the best ? and the most expensive - he ever produced. The humpback model has been very popular, its shape being used not only by the house of Breguet but by others such as Cole and Jump in England. Even fewer carriage clocks of this type were made in the late 19th and early 20th century, at the request of important clients. The most complicated was the one completed for Ettore Bugatti in 1931; it was a replica of the most elaborate carriage clock made in the early 19th century. Toward the end of the 19th century in England, James Jump made a few silver carriage clocks in the ?humpback? style. Today they are among the most sought-after by collectors, along with those made by Breguet. The clocks made by both Jump and Cole are very rare and on a par with those produced by Breguet. A direct link with Breguet can be traced through Sylvain Mairet, pupil of Breguet, friend of James Ferguson Cole and colleague of Joseph and Richard Thomas Jump.