History of Timekeeping: From Stars to Tourbillons

Elliot55 delves into the historical pursuit of timekeeping, from ancient celestial observations to the development of modern clocks and watches. This post, 'Start Of The Next Baktun - Redoux - PART II,' offers a rich, meandering exploration of humanity's enduring fascination with measuring time, accompanied by a striking image of the Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon.

• 1000 AD: Advancements in metallurgy account for the usage of mechanical parts in water clocks, eventually leading to concept used to create the first clock.
• 1275 AD Considered one of history’s greatest technological achievements, the first mechanical clock is invented - probably in England or maybe in Italy – although it is still unclear who deserves the credit.
• 1370 AD: The first mechanical clocks with “strikers & gongs” appear.
• 1400 AD: Blacksmiths are hired to make clocks that sound bells on the hour.
• 1500 AD: Brass, Bronze and silver become the desired metals used in clocks.  The use of weights is replaced by springs, which deliver greater accuracy.
• 1540ish: Reformer John Calvin bans the wearing of jewelry, forcing Geneva’s jewelers to learn another craft.  Refugees from France and Italy alter the future of Switzerland by teaching the art of clock making, ultimately leading to the creation of the first known guild of clock makers.

• 1574: The first pocket watch is created, but like the first clock, there is some question as to whom deserves the credit.  The watch is made mostly of bronze and depicts St. Georges slaying a dragon on the front, with a crucifixion on the back.  535 years later, the timepiece still functions.
• 1602ish: Galileo notices that a pendulum can be used to keep time.
• 1680: Minute hands begin to appear on clocks.
• 1690: Considered just a novelty, second hands begin to appear on clocks.
• 1700ish: Manufacturers design and build clocks in all shapes, sizes and styles, ranging from grandfather clocks (known as longcases) to highly decorative table clocks with enamel paintings.  Clock ownership widespread.
• 1735: John Harrison, a self-proclaimed carpenter, develops a method to make a pendulum clock function on sea faring vessels.
• 1770:   Abraham Louis Perrelet invents a mechanism that operates in both directions, thus creating the first, self-winding pocket watch.  The invention is still utilized today.
• 1790:   The first “wristwatch” appears, credited t o Jacquet Droz of Geneva.
• 1801:   Abraham-Louis Breguet invents the Tourbillon escapement, which compensates for the errors in timekeeping caused by the force of gravity when the watch is in different positions.

• 1822:   Nicolas Ricusse invents a device to measure the distance traveled, called a “seconds chronograph”, giving rise the era of the stopwatch.
• 1830:   Breguet introduces watches equipped with a button for setting the time.
• 1914:   As a result of World War I, officers realize the importance of having the time on their wrist instead of in their pocket.  Wearing a wristwatch becomes the preferable form of timekeeping.
• 1927:   Charles Lindbergh completes the first successful transatlantic solo flight from New York to Paris in little over 33 hours.  He wears a watch co-developed by Longines called the Lindbergh Hour Angle.

• 1929:   Antoine LeCoultre invents the world’s smallest mechanical movement: Caliber 101.  Over 80 years later, it is still listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.

• 1932:   First clock to use a quartz crystal regulator
• 1933:   Rolex launches the Bubbleback, featuring the first “auto-rotor”, a development that the inventor, Hans Wilsdorf, described as “perpetual motion, wherein the winding mass turns smoothly both clockwise and counter-clockwise, as well as pivot a full 360 degrees on its staff at the center of the movement”.  The Bubbleback (and its successor, the Oyster), gains International fame as it becomes the first truly “waterproof” timepiece.  In what can only be described as pure marketing genius, Rolex hires Olympic swimmer, Mercedes Gleitze, to cross the English Channel wearing a Bubbleback.  Despite being exposed to the harsh elements during the swim, the watch keeps perfect time.

• 1955:   Dr. Essen of The National Physical Laboratory invents the atomic clock, a device so accurate it can keep time to within a couple of seconds every 100,000 years.
• 1957:   American watchmaker, Hamilton Watch Company, produces the first battery-operated watch.  Years in the making, this timepiece eliminates the need for a mainspring by utilizing an “energizer”, giving eventual rise to the quartz timepiece.
• 1963:   Seiko invents the first quartz-crystal, battery-powered chronometer.
• 1969:   Astronaut Neil Armstrong wears an Omega Speedmaster on his voyage to the moon.
• 1973:   Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first digital, quartz-crystal wristwatch.  Named Pulsar, the firm debuts the timepiece in the motion picture, Live and Let Die, a James Bond installment starring Roger Moore as 007.  The watch is hugely popular and very expensive.

• 1983:   Swatch introduces the first all plastic, Swiss-made quartz watch, marketing the line as fashionable and affordable.  Today, The Swatch Group is the largest watch manufacturer in the world.
• 1989:   To celebrate its 150^th Anniversary, Patek Philippe creates the Calibre 89, deemed the world’s most complicated watch.  With 33 complications, the watch has two faces, a thermometer, perpetual calendar and equation of time.  [In 2009, the one-of-a-kind piece sold for 5.2 million dollars at Antiquorum’s 35^th Anniversary sale, setting a new world record]

• 2000:   Watch companies begin to explore the usage of new, high-tech materials, such as silicon and ceramic, in their movements, many claiming to be “lubricant free”.
• 2004:  Known as a continuous cold caesium atomic clock, the FOCS-1 in Switzerland goes into operation with an uncertainty of one second in thirty-million years.

• 2007:  President George W. Bush has his (fifty-dollar) Timex stolen by a member of an adoring Albanian crowd.

• 2012:  Everyone can make a Tourbillon.  The Chinese are selling them for under a thousand dollars!
  

DISCLAIMER:

The timeline is based on already-published information.  The author makes no claims to its accuracy and is not responsible for any disparities in the reported dates and related milestones listed in the timeline.  The timeline is provided for informational purposes only.