Mechanical
clocks came as an advancement to the metrics of time as they the old
water clocks, which, by the 13th century, had been around for
millennia. Water flowed steadily into a vertical tank and the rising
water level indicated the time of day. That's simple enough, but,
like mechanical clocks, water clocks had become ornate structures
with gears and dials. Like mechanical clocks, they tolled the hours
and displayed the planets. As expected the new device was smaller in
size and more delicate, though the size of a freestanding floor clock
either of this era, ore even one much “younger” would seem like a
large piece of furniture today.
The
accuracy of these mechanical clocks was limited at first. In the 16th
century, pocket watches were discovered, but they were quite big as
well, and were worn on a chain round the neck, and of course the
first "table" clocks made their appearance, although most
of them were to be found resting on parapets of large fireplaces, in
the case they were not considered a "furniture" themselves!
Around 1700 Queen Anne of England offered a small fortune as a reward
to anyone who would discover a way to calculate with the maximum
accuracy longitude. Ten years later, the watchmaker John Harrison,
discovered that for an accurate determination of longitude requires
accurate time measurement. So the Navy utilized for the first time
what later became known as the “Harrison Marine Chronometer”,
which measured the time with great accuracy and was tested by famous
explorers such as Captain Cook. This device won the Queen's
supremacy and led to the construction of the first precision clock.
The next century with the advancement of technology the first
wristwatches began to emerge, which were worn only by women, while
men used pocket watches only. This social habit was reversed in the
First World War that the great need for consistency in time became
understood, and so the wristwatch was worn by men. In the modern era
the clocks became more elaborate objects...
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