A Closer Look At Timepieces

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We schedule our day based on closely watched seconds, minutes, and hours. Most of us keep track of these hours using some kind of timepiece like a clock or watch. These timepieces help us keep life organized and help us schedule our time most effectively. Chances are you've been using clocks and watches since as early as you can remember. And so have most people. The clock is one of the earliest human inventions.

Almost every civilization had some kind of ancient method for tracking time. One of the earliest is the sundial. A sundial tracks time by measuring the shadows cast by the sun. The time of day is measured by the direction of the shadow cast by the sun on the sundial. Though this method can be very effective, it has obvious limitations. During the night or on cloudy days, a sundial is ineffective. Another very ancient device for time measurement was a water clock or clepsydrae. Water clocks operated by measuring the amount of regulated liquid flowing into or out of a measuring vessel. The water clock was the most accurate timekeeping method for centuries until the pendulum clock became common in the 18th century. The pendulum clock is a timepiece that uses a swinging weight, or pendulum, as its timekeeping element.

Early inventions of mechanical clocks are often attributed to the Chinese, who are said to have been one of the first to use an escapement in their clocks. An escapement is a device that converts rotating movement into an oscillating movement. Of course, when most people think of modern ways of telling time, we think of wristwatches because it is the most popular timepiece today. Portable timepieces first came into popularity in the 16th century in the form of a pocketwatch. Later, during World War I, soldiers needed a way to tell time but keep their hands free and wristwatches were the new vogue. Later electronic watches were developed. Shortly after that the revolution of the quartz watch brought timekeeping to its most accurate state.

Beginning with ancient sundials to water clocks and now to the electronic, quartz, and digital wristwatches we wear today with such tiny moving or static parts that they require specialized watch tools in order to be repaired, humans have always been fascinated with time. Making timepieces has become an art. In effort to continually improve, skilled watchmakers continue searching for the best methods of keeping time.

About the Author:
Esslinger and Company (http://www.esslinger.com/) is about watch tool. Art Gib is a freelance writer.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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