Bounce781 shares an extraordinary eBay find: an actual Tompion Gold Medal, a prestigious award from the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers. This post details the medal's significance, its recipient Prof. Bernard Guinot—a titan in horology and timekeeping—and the journey of verifying its authenticity. It offers a rare look into the world of horological accolades and the unexpected paths historical artifacts can take.
Dear friends.
Just a quick note about my latest (and GREATEST) eBay catch.
This is an actual “Tompion Gold Medal” awarded in 1997 to Prof Bernard Guinot. The Tompion Gold medal is awarded by the “Worshipful Company of Clockmakers” to individuals who have achieved an Outstanding Contribution to Horology.
(I like to think of it as the Nobel Prize in the field of watchmaking)
Since 1954, there have only been 12 medals awarded, including notable horological heroes of mine: George Daniels (1980) and Derek Pratt (2005), amongst others.
The medal I have found in an eBay auction was awarded to Prof Bernard Guinot, who have recently passed away (2017).
Prof Guinot is most well known for his many outstanding contributions to the field of astrolabes, algorithms for calculating Universal Time (UT); International Atomic Time and his many years at the Paris Observatory.
I found it incredible that such an artefact was allowed to go on sale but I am very humbled to have it in my collection.
Below is the text of Prof Guinot’s obituary, published by the French Academy of Sciences: http://www.academie-sciences.fr/en/Liste-des-membres-de-l-Academie-des-sciences-/-G/bernard-guinot.html

Bernard Guinot, honorary astronomer of the Observatoire de Paris, passed away on March 6, 2017, at the age of 91. He was a correspondent of the Academy of Sciences, an honorary member of the Bureau of Longitudes and a member of Academia Europaea.
First officer of the maritime messengeries, he entered in 1952 to the Observatory of Paris where his career of astronomer will continue until 1984. André Danjon, then Director, associates it with his research on the astrolabe which carries his name. B. Guinot is actively involved in the development of this instrument and in the development of its scientific applications. In 1958 he supported his state thesis on this subject.
In 1965, he became director of the International Bureau of the Hour (BIH), a position he held until 1985 at the Observatoire de Paris, in the Department of Fundamental Astronomy (now SYRTE). In this context, he designs new algorithms for the calculation of UT1 Universal Time and pole coordinates, develops methods for the transition of optical measurements to spatial geodesy techniques and creates a fast service for the needs of space research. He proposes the definition of a new equatorial origin which will be adopted internationally in 2000. He is the instigator of the geodetic reference system used worldwide. As Director of the BIH, he is one of the most active artisans of the passage from astronomical measurement of time to its quantum measurement and one of the major players in the organization of the world metrology of time. He creates and develops the construction algorithm of International Atomic Time (TAI) and has it recognized as the official basis for measuring time and frequencies. It improves the construction to make the best approximation of the ideal time of physics. In 1985, he joined the International Bureau of Weights and Measures as principal physicist, then consultant. It officially transferred the TAI in 1988, to the creation of the International Land Rotation Service (IERS), which succeeds the BIH rotation component of the Earth. In addition to his activities on time scales, he devotes himself to the problem of relativistic definitions of spatio-temporal references, which he ensures recognition by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 2000.
Numerous scientific responsibilities have been assigned to him during his career, notably in the Paris Observatory, the Space Geodetic Research Group, the Bureau des Longitudes, the IAU, and the International Committee of Weights and Measures. . Two of his books are references: The method of equal heights in astronomy, Gordon & Breach 1970, with Suzanne DĂ©barbat and the foundations of the measurement of time, Masson 1998, with Claude Audoin.
The great scientific rigor of Bernard Guinot and his innovative designs allowed him, during his sixty years of scientific activity, to best benefit from astronomy and time measurement of the gain in precision brought by space geodesy and clocks atomic.
We lost with him a great personality and a great scientist
