The History of Clocks and Watches

The measurement of time was one of man's earliest obsessions, and the desire for ever greater precision in time-keeping has inspired generations in the fields of mathematics and science. Equally, each advance has produced accompanying works of great craftsmanship that have turned objects of sober function into things of outstanding beauty. Eric Bruton traces the path of this development from the simple shepherd's dial made of clay, through the rush of horological activity that followed the invention of the pendulum in the mid-17th century, to the perfection escapement developments that form the basic principles of the complex electronic circuitry of our clocks and watches today.