Peter Stretch (October 14, 1670 – September 11, 1746) was among the most prominent early American clockmakers and among the first makers of scientific instruments in America.

[1] Peter Stretch acquired an intimate knowledge of the art from some of the finest clockmakers in England — Thomas Tompion, George Graham, and Daniel Quare.

[2] Along with their three sons, Daniel (1694–1735), Thomas (1697–October 17, 1765) and William (1701–1748), and daughter Elizabeth (1699–1759),[3] they emigrated to America in 1703, arriving when Peter Stretch was 32.

[5] Joseph's daughter (Peter Stretch's granddaughter) Sarah (July 13, 1733 – April 19, 1770), married the eminent merchant Samuel Howell (1723–1807), a financier of the American Revolution.

[6] The first settlers of Philadelphia were mainly artisans, many of them belonging to the English gentry, who had sold their property and come to America to escape religious persecution.

On November 11, 1715, he purchased a property at the southeast corner of Front and Chestnut Streets in Philadelphia, where he set up shop in his home.

In 1733, he provided Thomas Penn, Proprietor of Pennsylvania, with a number of scales and weights, and "two needles for Surveying & a Contor [sic]".

[15][16] His son Thomas was also a man of note, being a clockmaker and the founding Governor of the Schuylkill Fishing Company angling club.

[18][19] His oldest son, Daniel, preferred the life of a planter and lived in Salem, New Jersey, where Peter's brother, Joseph, had settled in 1695.

Thomas Stretch was one of the founders of Pennsylvania Hospital and a member of the Union Fire Company, also known as Benjamin Franklin's Bucket Brigade.

Joseph, Peter's youngest son, was a hatter by trade and, following his father's example, devoted time to public service.

That she had not been so successful in locating many of the clocks made by Thomas Stretch is attributed to the fact that they have reached the hands of dealers and been scattered across the country.

At Independence Hall, the second-floor Governor's Council Chamber is furnished with important examples of the era by the National Park Service, including a musical tall case clock made by Peter Stretch circa 1740.