Companies Gent (trading c.1872-1981)

Originally manufacturers of alarms and electrical equipment, the Leicester firm of Gent moved into clockmaking after patenting an electrically reset gravity escapement in 1904 - the result of a collaboration between the company's director, electrical engineer Isaac Hardy Parsons, and clockmaker Alfred Ball. Along with their great rivals, Synchronome, Gent went on to dominate the market in electric clocks for institutional settings until the 1950s.