History of Clocks Timeline

Important Dates In The History Of Clocks

Source: www.clockdictionary.com

B.C. 742
First authentic recorded mention of the sun dial. There is, however, evidence of use of the sun dial as early as 2,000 B.C.

B.C. 300
Toothed wheels for transmission of power attributed to Archimedes.

A.D. 330
Sand glasses known to be in use.

A.D. 885
Alfred the great used candles as "clocks."

A.D. 1368
Clockmaking in England started.

A.D. 1490
Mainspring invented by Peter Hele, or Henlein, a locksmith of Nurnburg. About this time the small domestic, or table clock made its appearance.

A.D. 1510
The first watch was made at about this time.

A.D. 1540
Screws made their appearance.

A.D. 1541
An astronomical clock was fixed in one of the towers of Hampton Court Palace.

A.D. 1581
Galileo, Italian Astronomer and Physicist, discovered the properties of the pendulum.

A.D. 1587
Watchmaking industry commenced in Geneva.

A.D. 1610
Glasses as protection for watch dial and hand introduced.

A.D. 1635
Enamel dials invented by Paul Viet of Blois, France.

A.D. 1657
Christiaan Huygens, a Dutch Physicist, made the first pendulum controlled clock.

A.D. 1666
The recoil anchor excapement, possibly invented by Dr. Robert Hooke between 1666 and 1667.

A.D. 1671
Pendulum suspension spring introduced by William Clement. The first known clock with anchor excapement made by William Clement.

A.D. 1675
Royal Observatory at Greenwich founded. Edward Booth ( Later Rev. Edward Barlow ) invented the Rack Striking Mechanism for clocks.

A.D. 1676
The concentric minute hand, with motion work similar to that in use today, was used by Daniel Quare, a famous London maker and others. Daniel Quare also made repeating watches about this time. The Second Hand is introduced.

A.D. 1704
Nicholas Facio, FRS, a native of Geneva, who settled in London, succeeded in piercing rubies and sapphires for use as jewelled bearing for balance staff pivots.

A.D. 1720
George Graham invented the dead-beat excapement for clocks. He also invented the mercurial compensation pendulum.

A.D. 1725
John Harrison invented the grid-iron compensation pendulum. George Graham invented the cylinder escapement.

A.D. 1765
Centre Seconds hand introduced. " Tell-tale" clocks invented by John Whitehurst, FRS, a celebrated clockmaker of Berby and London. (1713-1788)

A.D. 1840
Alexander Bain, an Edinburgh clockmaker, made the first electric clock.

A.D.1858
The British Horological Institute, an association of Clock and Watch Makers for the purpose of advancing the horological art, was founded. "The Horological Journal," the oldest periodical dealing with the craft, was stated.

A.D. 1865
Georges Frederick Roskopf developed the pin pallet escapement.

A.D. 1880
G.M.T. became the standard time for the whole of the United Kingdom.
Charles R. Sligh forms theSligh Furniture Company

A.D. 1884
The meridian of Greenwich was adopted by international agreement as the zero or prime meridian from which the longitude of all places in the world is measured.

A.D. 1895
The first electric master clock and impulse dial system was invented by Frank Hope-Jones, F.B.H.I. Upon which all modern impulse clock systems are based.

A.D. 1900
Electric contacts are fitted to a Marine Chronometer for the purpose of impulsing secondary dials.

A.D. 1916
Summer Time first introduced.

A.D. 1918
The alternating current synchronous motor was first applied to clocks by H.C. Warren in the U.S.A., although the principle had been discussed as far back as 1895. Thus came the first "plug into mains" clock.

A.D. 1921
Study and development of the Quartz Crystal clock commenced by Dr. Warren A. Marrison, F.B.H.I. a Canadian who became an American citizen.

A.D. 1927
Howard C. Miller starts the "Howard Miller Clock Co."

A.D. 1937
Quartz Crystal clocks introduced at the Royal Greenwich Observatory.

A.D. 1955
Atomic Clock invented by Dr. L. Essen, O.B.E., F.B.H.I. National Physical Laboratory, Teddington.