CLOCKS MAGAZINE The Chronology of Horology

Horological chronology from Clocks Magazine

c2000 BC	Egyptians estimate time of day by the shadow cast by a stick stuck in the sand.
1400 BC	Water clocks in use in the Mediterranean countries, the Middle East and India.
800s	Candle clock thought to be in use
1086	Chinese emperor orders construction of astronomical clock by diplomat and scientist Su Sung. Su Sung starts to build first clock with recognisable escapement.
1094	Su Sung's water clock is presented to the emperor.
12th century AD	First weight-driven mechanical clocks constructed in Italy.
1321-1325	Richard Stoke builds clock with astronomical dial for Norwich Cathedral.
1327-1336	Richard of Wallingford (1292-1336), Abbott of St Albans, builds his clock and publishes details.
mid-1300s	Verge escapement appears.
mid 1300s	Strikework appears.
1348-64	Clock built by Giovanni De Dondi.
1320s	Strasbourgh clock is completed.
late 1400s	Spring-driven clocks appear in Italy.
1505	First clock dial on turret clock at Magdalen College, Cambridge.
early 1500s	Peter Henlein is producing watches in Nurnberg, Bavaria.
1525	Jacob Zech of Prague uses fusee, the first known use of this device in horology.
1581	Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) discovers isochronism of pendulums.
1584	German clockmaker Jost Burgi (1552-1632) invents cross-beat escapement
c1600	Remontoire invented
c1600	'Chamber' or 'Gothic' clocks, the precursors of the lantern clock, appear in England
1620	Lantern clock, the first truly English clock, style fully developed.
1641	Vincenzo Galilei produces drawing for duplex clock escapement to a design given him by his father Gallileo (1564-1642).
1631	Charles I grants Charter of Incorporation to London clockmakers petitioning to set up the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers.
1656	Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens suggests method of applying pendulum to clockwork.
1657	Salomon Coster patents and builds first pendulum clock
1666	Great Fire of London
1660s	Longcase (or grandfather) clock makes its first appearance in England
c1665	Robert Hooke proposes application of balance-spring to clockwork
c1670	Bracket clocks are introduced.
c1670	The long or 'Royal' pendulum is introduced along with the anchor escapement.
1670	Robert Hooke invents wheel-cutting machine.
1671	Earliest known pendulum clock built by William Clement.
c1675	Balance spring is applied to horology by the Dutch scientist Christian Huygens.
c1675 to c1725	Marquetry is popular in cabinetwork, for example in clock cases.
1676	Rack striking, invented by Edward Barlow, first used in a clock by Thomas Tompion.
c1680	Longcase or 'staande klok' appears in the Netherlands
1682	Abel Cottey of Crediton, Devon, emigrates to USA and starts making longcase clocks in Philadelphia.
1695	Thomas Tompion (1639-1713) patents the cylinder escapement.
1704	Jewelled bearings introduced by Facio de Duillier in Switzerland.
c1710	Dial arch introduced
1714	Britain's Board of Longitude offers a £20,000 prize for a clock which will keep accurate time at sea.
1722	George Graham builds his first compensated pendulum, using the rise in the level mercury (with heat) in cylindrical bob to compensate the the downward expansion of the pendulum rod.
1725	John Harrison invents grid-iron compensated pendulum.
c1730	First cuckoo clock makes its appearance in the Black Forest region of Germany.
1728	Harrison brothers, James and John, complete and test first prototype 'sea clock', H1.
c1730	George Graham (1673-1751) introduces the dead-beat escapement.
1736	Sea trials of the first Harrison sea clock, H1.
1739	John Harrison completes second sea clock, H2.
c1750	In one of the most bizarre stories of horology, a cargo of English clocks destined for Russia is washed up on shores of the Danish island of Bornhlm, sparking an industry on the island making clocks in a similar style.
1741	Louis Amant invents the pin-wheel escapement.
1741	French clockmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet is born at Neuchatel, Switzerland (dies 1823).
1749	Frederic Japy, said to be the father of French horology, is born at Beaucout in the Franche-Comte. Dies in 1812.
mid 1700s	Silvered dial comes into use.
1759	The third Harrison sea clock, H3, built by John Harrison with the assistance of his son, William, is ready for sea trials
1761	Fourth Harrison sea clock, H4, is successfully trialled at sea and Board of Longitude makes an interim award of £2500 and demands another sea trial.
1764	H4 trialled again in voyage to Barbados, time correct to one minute over period of three months. Board of Longitude awards Harrison a further £7500.
c1770	The use of marquetry in clock cases is revived during the Adam period
1770	White or painted dial longcase makes its appearance.
1772	Board of Longitude give Harrison the outstanding £10,000 after being receiving support from King George III.
1776	John Harrison dies (March).
1790	Jaquet-Droz and Leschot of Geneva advertise first ladies wristwatch.
1797	British Parliament passes an Act which levies tax on all clocks and watches, an occurence which gave its name (quite erroneously) to the 'Act of Parliament clock'.
early 1800s	Carriage clock appears.
1802	Simon Willard (1753-1848) of Roxbury, Massachusetts, patents movement of banjo clock.
1807	Eli Terry (1772-1852) introduces mass-production techniques into clockmaking.
1808	John Schmidt, a Dutchman working in London, patents his 'mysterious circulator'.
1819	Gustav Becker is born at Oels in Silesia (dies 1885).
1812	Eli Terry invents the shelf clock.
1823	Erhard Jungans is born in Schramberg in the Black Forest region of Germany (dies 1870).
c1825-1848	Biedermeier period which influenced design of clock cases, particularly those of Vienna regulators.
c1828	Simon Willard designs and builds accurate regulator.
1829	Aaron Dodd Crane devised torsion pendulum.
1834	Swiss inventor Matthias Hipp designs clock impulsed electromagnetically.
1838	Alexander Bain (1810-1877) designs first battery electric clock.
1839	Carl August Steinheil of Munich patents the first master-and-slave clock system.
c1840	American clockmakers apply ogee style to clocks.
1841	Bain is awarded first UK patent for electrical clock.
1842	Hipp builds his first electrical clock.
1842	First electromagnetically operated clock is built by Alexander Bain (1810-1877).
1845	Wagon-spring clock introduced by Joseph Ives (1782-1862) of Bristol, Connecticut
1850s	Silas B Terry produces regulator movement.
1850s	Airy asks Edmund Beckett Denison (1816-1905), later Lord Grimthorpe, to advise on construction of the great clock of Westminster, 'Big Ben'
1854	Dennison incorporates his double three-legged gravity escapement, the first gravity escapement, in the movement of the Westminster clock.
1855	John C Briggs of Concord, New Hampshire, patents his rotary clock.
1858	British Horological Institute is formed to protect Britain's horological industry
1860s	Black Forest clockmakers adopt American methods and styles.
1861	Prince Albert dies, clocks of more sombre colours, such as the black 'marble' mantel clock, make their apearance.
mid-1870s	Angelus clock introduced by Angelus Clock Co of Philadelphia
1878	Ingersoll introduces the 'dollar watch'.
1879	Anton Harder, a German, produces the first 400-day, or 'anniversary', clock.
1880	First men's wristwatches produced for German military.
1884	Greenwich Meridian chosen as prime meridian of longitude.
1889	Munich inventor Sigmund Riefler designs 'free' pendulum.
1891	Riefler patents pendulum compensated for expansion/contraction with heat by mercury in a hollow rod.
1895	Frank Hope Jones (1868-1950) and George Bennett Bowell patent the Synchronome, the first reliable master-and-slave system.
1895	Invar, an allow with a very low coefficient of expansion, is invented by Charles Edouard Guillaume, 1861-1938.
1898	First speaking clock patented in Switzerland by Casimir Sivan of Geneva
1905	First radio time signal broadcast from the Navy Yard at Boston, Massachusetts.
1918	American Henry E Warren patents the first synchronous electric clock.
1920	M T Favre-Bulle invents the electric clock which bears his name, the Bulle.
1921	First free-pendulum clock devised by William Hamilton Shortt (1882-1971), is installed at Edinburgh Observatory.
1929	Dr Warren A Marrison develops quartz clock
1936	Speaking clock introduced on British telephone network.
1943	National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors is organised in Philadelphia
1949	First atomic clock built
1957	First battery-powered balance-wheel wristwatch introduced by Hamilton.
1959	Accutron introduce electric watch with balance-wheel replaced by tuning fork
late 1960s	Quartz techology introduced to domestic clocks and watches.
1960s	Floating balance introduced to reduce friction between the balance pivots and their bushes.
1976	Great clock of Westminster, 'Big Ben', fails and breaks up inside the clock tower (5th August)