Bridges' Microcosm
- Gallery: Room 2
- Maker: Henry Bridges
- Made in: Waltham Abbey
- Date: 1733
- Object type: astronomical clock, calendar clock, lunar clock
- Materials: mahogany (clock-case); gold (clock-case)
- Museum number: 1958,1006.2101
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
Before you is "Bridges' Microcosm," an extraordinary astronomical clock created around 1733 in Waltham Abbey by Henry Bridges. This work is a marvel of Enlightenment craftsmanship and scientific curiosity. You'll notice two large silvered-metal dials—one representing the Ptolemaic (Earth-centered) system, the other the Copernican (sun-centered) model. The lower dial features four smaller dials showing lunar phases, dates, and other astronomical data.
Originally part of a grand, music-playing automaton housed in a large case—sadly now lost—this clock was a traveling spectacle enjoyed across Britain, America, and even Jamaica. Its intricate movement includes a "ting-tang" quarter-striking mechanism and a compensated pendulum.
Though only the clock's dial and inner workings remain today, these pieces reveal the genius of Henry Bridges—a man whose masterpiece combined the wonders of time, art, and nature into one breathtaking invention.
See it in person
Bridges' Microcosm is on display in Room 2 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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