Words: Joanna Cummings  

A brief history of time… 

Have you adjusted to the clocks going back yet? There are perhaps few other times of the year that we are more aware of the concept and passing of time; some of us are now getting out of bed in the dark, the day seems to draw to a close earlier and even our bodies feel the effects of the shifting in hours. Time is a strange and huge concept for us to comprehend – it’s no wonder that throughout the ages we have sought to add structure to our day-to-day lives by learning to ‘tell the time’. But how did our relationship with timekeeping begin? Here, we explore the history of clocks and other timepieces that have become such an integral part of our work, rest and play. 

Those of us roused by that 6am alarm have probably cursed the day clocks were invented. But, of course, the creation and development of timepieces, whether basic or sophisticated, has all been inspired by our need to add structure to our lives. In Ancient Egypt, for example, the sun’s position in the sky dictated the order of the day, leading to the building of sundials; meanwhile, over in Ancient Greece, the first geared clock was invented by the mathematician and inventor Archimedes. This clock combined four weights and counterweights, with its strings controlled by floats in a container of water. It is thought to have inspired the Antikythera mechanism, a machine that was used to predict the positions of the sun, moon and planets. 

Candle clocks were another ancient way of keeping time, and they were used widely around the world, including in China and Mesopotamia. The hourglass (which became popular throughout Europe) arose a little later; this device connected two glass bulbs with a narrow neck, which allowed sand to pass through. To this day, the hourglass is still a powerful visual symbol for the passing of time.

As trade, religious rituals and agricultural cycles developed over the centuries, accurate timekeeping became more important. In the 14th century, an English monk called Richard of Wallingford created an astronomical clock that displayed the movements of the moon and stars. Three centuries later, Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens developed the pendulum clock, greatly improving accuracy.  

In 17th-century England, inventor Thomas Tompion and clockmaker George Graham contributed to the development of precision clocks, while John Harrison, a carpenter and clockmaker, revolutionised maritime navigation in the 18th-century with his accurate marine chronometers. Harrison’s invention determined longitude by comparing Greenwich Mean Time with the current location of the ship, ascertained from the observations of celestial bodies.  

The development of the Antikythera mechanism, mentioned earlier, was the first example of clockwork, the intricate mechanism by which clocks operate, but it wasn’t until around the 14th century that clockwork began to be adopted in Europe – largely due to the astronomical piece designed by Richard of Wallingford.  

As anyone who has watched The Repair Shop will appreciate, clockwork relies on a meticulous – and frankly ingenious – interplay of gears and springs. The springs store energy and as they unwind they set gears in motion; the gears then control the speed of this movement. The ‘tick, tock’ we associate with clocks is created by the ‘escapement’, a mechanism that releases energy in regulated bursts from the spring to the pendulum.  

In the 19th century, early electromechanical clocks were powered by dry cell batteries, which led to the installation of synchronised timepieces, such as in railway stations or schools. From that point on, clocks and watches developed at a relatively rapid pace: the first digital alarm clock was registered in the mid-1950s, digital electronic watches were launched around 1970 and, in 1994, the first mobile phone with an alarm clock was released. 

Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of our journey through time is the language we use to describe its passing and influence. It is capable of movement when “time flies”, it is considered almost therapeutic when “time heals all wounds”, and serves as storyteller when “only time will tell”. More prosaically, “time is money”, a phrase invented not by the yuppies of 1980s’ Wall Street but by Benjamin Franklin in the 18th century.

Whether we keep time, struggle to find time, try to make time, or talk about borrowed time, the concept is rarely out of our thoughts. Even the way we personify time, via Father Time himself or the scythe-wielding Grim Reaper, shows not only that we are fascinated by time but consider ourselves governed by it. Timepieces – basic or sophisticated, wrist-bound or tabletop, physical or metaphorical – are functional tools but also symbolise our need to manage time, and to understand what it means for our existence. 

Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late! 

Remember the watch-toting White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland? Author Lewis Carroll loved a riddle and wrote The Two Clocks, thought to have inspired Schrödinger’s Clock. Find out more.