The clock was on tour from 1733 until 1775 and was seen by thousands of people in England, Ireland, Scotland, The West Indies, and North America including George Washington and Richard Edgeworth who wrote an account of it in his memoirs.
James was a highly talented architect and civil engineer who claimed he was taught by his father and that he had seen the works of the ancients, suggesting he had done the Grand Tour.
The design was incredibly complex, the only similar monumental clock was by Jacob Lovelace of Exeter, suggesting some form of links with and inspiration from the Christian Church.
It also coincided with European automata arriving to tour, some of which were fraudulent, so the Microcosm demonstrated Britain at the time, but also inspired viewers to learn and improve their skills, to recover what had been lost in the Reformation and Civil War.
It was an important demonstration piece, and part of a world of touring science and technology which filled the absence of royal and aristocratic patronage.