What clock component did Leonardo da Vinci study to improve the regularity of timekeeping?

Leonardo da Vinci studied a clock escapement to improve the regularity of timekeeping.

An escapement controls the release of energy from a clock’s driving mechanism. It lets the gear train advance in measured steps while giving the timekeeping element repeated impulses. Leonardo’s notebooks contain studies of toothed wheels, weights, and mechanisms intended to regulate motion.

Leonardo’s work predates the pendulum clock. Christiaan Huygens introduced the first practical pendulum clock in the seventeenth century, more than a century after Leonardo’s death. Therefore, Leonardo’s clock studies should not be described as a pendulum-clock invention.

His designs show an interest in converting continuous force into controlled, repeatable movement. That same mechanical principle appears throughout his studies of automata, machines, and instruments.