A REMARKABLE and unique time-keeping machine by one of the leaders of Britain's Industrial Revolution in the late 18th and early 19th centuries - William Murdoch - sold for twice its estimate at Bonhams in New Bond Street.

This floor-standing regulator clock, almost certainly designed and built by Redruth's famous resident, the great inventor and gas and steam engineer William Murdoch (also Murdock, 1754 - 1839), today most famed for his discovery of gas lighting, sold for £28,000 to a private UK collector on the telephone at Bonhams' Sale.

The regulator, which stands in a solid mahogany and oak case, is thought to have been designed by Murdoch for his personal use since it displays many qualities and characteristics unusual to movements made by traditionally trained clockmakers. More akin in design to contemporary scientific and nautical instruments than horological, some of the parts have a distinctly "engineered" feel to them and resemble mechanical parts made by Murdoch for other items.

William Murdoch was born near Auchinleck, Ayrshire, on the estate of James Boswell's father. Encouraged by his own father, himself possessed of an original engineering mind, Murdoch walked over 250 miles to the Watt and Boulton factory at Soho, Birmingham, to pursue his dream of working with the thrilling new steam engines. He was immediately employed, and for the rest of his life worked with James Watt and Matthew Boulton in leading the world into a new, industrial, age of steam, gas, power and manufacture. They are all three buried in the crypt of St Mary's Church, Handsworth. From 1779 Murdoch lived in Redruth, superintending the erecting of Watt's engines, carrying out mechanical repairs and visiting the many mines in the area, in which he held some shares.

He quickly gained respect and admiration for his work and improvements to some of Watt's engines. In the 1790s, Boulton wrote to Watt, "Murdoch seems indefatigable...everyone seems helpless in comparison of him" and "We want more Murdochs, for of all others he is the most active man and best engine erector I ever saw...when I look at the work done it astonishes me and is entirely owing to the spirit and activity of Murdoch..."

Murdoch's greatest single contribution to the world is his discovery of gas lighting - it was widely known that when particular types of coal burned they emitted a flammable gas. Murdoch spent much time experimenting with this and by 1794 had reached the stage where he could illuminate his own house with gas light.