After his study in technical physics at the Technological University Delft, R. Plomp was from 1953 to 1989 head of hearing and speech research at TNO (Organization for Applied Scientific Research) as well as from 1972 to 1994 professor in experimental audiology at the Free University in Amsterdam. His horological interests were aroused by discovering the role of Christiaan Huygens in the origin of French and English pendulum clocks. After three articles in Antiquarian Horology, he published in 1979 the book Spring-driven Dutch Pendulum Clocks, 1657-1710.