You’ll likely never see a watch bearing the name Derek Pratt. Although they are rarely seen at auction, there is a loan display at The Science Museum in the exhibition collated by the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, which only speaks to the significance of his work. This relative lack of visibility betrays the skill, ingenuity, and generosity that made up Derek Pratt. The English watchmaker might be best known to collectors for his incredible work at Urban Jürgensen alongside Peter Baumberger, or perhaps for his unfinished replica of Harrison’s H4 chronometer. However, there is much more to this man than these two projects.

It’s been nearly 13 years since Pratt’s death and in that time the world of independent watchmaking has exploded. With a rapidly increasing interest in this field of horology, we thought it worth digging into one of the unsung heroes of British watchmaking whose mark on the craft was far larger than many are aware.

On the occasions that Pratt is brought up in horological circles, it is often forgotten that he was far more than a watchmaker. His engineering curiosity stretched far further than timepieces. From the Wankel-driven Mazdas he would drive around in, to the classic bikes that he could often be seen atop, Pratt’s love of mechanical things seemingly knew no bounds.

By all accounts, Pratt was at the very centre of complex horology through the 1980s and into the 2000s. He was always willing to lend a hand or just be a sounding board for ideas, and those we spoke to about Pratt could not say enough about the man’s selflessness when it came to giving his time and knowledge. Hopefully we are able to convey all of this and more in the following article, shedding some light on a man who we feel can’t be spoken about highly enough.

Pratt was perhaps always destined to go on to create incredible mechanisms on a tiny scale. Born in Petts Wood, just outside of Orpington, southeast London, he was close to Greenwich and all of