Cuff was born in 1708 to a watchmaker who was a member of the Broderers' Company. He was apprenticed in 1722 to James Mann, one of a family of optical instrument makers prominent in the Spectacle Makers' Company. Cuff himself was admitted into the freedom of the Company in 1729, giving 40 years' service to it, during which time he attended over 100 Court meetings, including a stint as Master in 1748.
He set up shop in Fleet Street, in 1737, under the sign of the 'Reflecting Microscope & Spectacles'. As well as optical instruments he made and sold barometers, thermometers and mathematical and other instruments. One of his innovations was an improved solar telescope. Cuff's big break came when this instrument was described favourably by Henry Baker, an influential Fellow of the Royal Society, in his extremely popular book The Microscope Made Easy (1742). The book also described and illustrated some of Cuff's microscopes, making him well-known in the field. In 1743 Cuff developed an all-brass compound microscope with the tube supported by a single pillar mounted on a wooden box foot which was so successful that it was widely copied, and similar designs became known as 'Cuff-type' microscopes.
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