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  Horological chronology from Clocks Magazine
c2000 BCEgyptians estimate time of day by the shadow cast by a stick stuck in the sand.
1400 BCWater clocks in use in the Mediterranean countries, the Middle East and India.
800sCandle clock thought to be in use
1086Chinese emperor orders construction of astronomical clock by diplomat and scientist Su Sung. Su Sung starts to build first clock with recognisable escapement.
1094Su Sung's water clock is presented to the emperor.
12th century ADFirst weight-driven mechanical clocks constructed in Italy.
1321-1325Richard Stoke builds clock with astronomical dial for Norwich Cathedral.
1327-1336Richard of Wallingford (1292-1336), Abbott of St Albans, builds his clock and publishes details.
mid-1300sVerge escapement appears.
mid 1300sStrikework appears.
1348-64Clock built by Giovanni De Dondi.
1320sStrasbourgh clock is completed.
late 1400sSpring-driven clocks appear in Italy.
1505First clock dial on turret clock at Magdalen College, Cambridge.
early 1500sPeter Henlein is producing watches in Nurnberg, Bavaria.
1525Jacob Zech of Prague uses fusee, the first known use of this device in horology.
1581Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) discovers isochronism of pendulums.
1584German clockmaker Jost Burgi (1552-1632) invents cross-beat escapement
c1600Remontoire invented
c1600'Chamber' or 'Gothic' clocks, the precursors of the lantern clock, appear in England
1620Lantern clock, the first truly English clock, style fully developed.
1641Vincenzo Galilei produces drawing for duplex clock escapement to a design given him by his father Gallileo (1564-1642).
1631Charles I grants Charter of Incorporation to London clockmakers petitioning to set up the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers.
1656Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens suggests method of applying pendulum to clockwork.
1657Salomon Coster patents and builds first pendulum clock
1666Great Fire of London
1660sLongcase (or grandfather) clock makes its first appearance in England
c1665Robert Hooke proposes application of balance-spring to clockwork
c1670Bracket clocks are introduced.
c1670The long or 'Royal' pendulum is introduced along with the anchor escapement.
1670Robert Hooke invents wheel-cutting machine.
1671Earliest known pendulum clock built by William Clement.
c1675Balance spring is applied to horology by the Dutch scientist Christian Huygens.
c1675 to c1725Marquetry is popular in cabinetwork, for example in clock cases.
1676Rack striking, invented by Edward Barlow, first used in a clock by Thomas Tompion.
c1680Longcase or 'staande klok' appears in the Netherlands
1682Abel Cottey of Crediton, Devon, emigrates to USA and starts making longcase clocks in Philadelphia.
1695Thomas Tompion (1639-1713) patents the cylinder escapement.
1704Jewelled bearings introduced by Facio de Duillier in Switzerland.
c1710Dial arch introduced
1714Britain's Board of Longitude offers a £20,000 prize for a clock which will keep accurate time at sea.
1722George 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.
1725John Harrison invents grid-iron compensated pendulum.
c1730First cuckoo clock makes its appearance in the Black Forest region of Germany.
1728Harrison brothers, James and John, complete and test first prototype 'sea clock', H1.
c1730George Graham (1673-1751) introduces the dead-beat escapement.
1736Sea trials of the first Harrison sea clock, H1.
1739John Harrison completes second sea clock, H2.
c1750In 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.
1741Louis Amant invents the pin-wheel escapement.
1741French clockmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet is born at Neuchatel, Switzerland (dies 1823).
1749Frederic Japy, said to be the father of French horology, is born at Beaucout in the Franche-Comte. Dies in 1812.
mid 1700sSilvered dial comes into use.
1759The third Harrison sea clock, H3, built by John Harrison with the assistance of his son, William, is ready for sea trials
1761Fourth Harrison sea clock, H4, is successfully trialled at sea and Board of Longitude makes an interim award of £2500 and demands another sea trial.
1764H4 trialled again in voyage to Barbados, time correct to one minute over period of three months. Board of Longitude awards Harrison a further £7500.
c1770The use of marquetry in clock cases is revived during the Adam period
1770White or painted dial longcase makes its appearance.
1772Board of Longitude give Harrison the outstanding £10,000 after being receiving support from King George III.
1776John Harrison dies (March).
1790Jaquet-Droz and Leschot of Geneva advertise first ladies wristwatch.
1797British 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 1800sCarriage clock appears.
1802Simon Willard (1753-1848) of Roxbury, Massachusetts, patents movement of banjo clock.
1807Eli Terry (1772-1852) introduces mass-production techniques into clockmaking.
1808John Schmidt, a Dutchman working in London, patents his 'mysterious circulator'.
1819Gustav Becker is born at Oels in Silesia (dies 1885).
1812Eli Terry invents the shelf clock.
1823Erhard Jungans is born in Schramberg in the Black Forest region of Germany (dies 1870).
c1825-1848Biedermeier period which influenced design of clock cases, particularly those of Vienna regulators.
c1828Simon Willard designs and builds accurate regulator.
1829Aaron Dodd Crane devised torsion pendulum.
1834Swiss inventor Matthias Hipp designs clock impulsed electromagnetically.
1838Alexander Bain (1810-1877) designs first battery electric clock.
1839Carl August Steinheil of Munich patents the first master-and-slave clock system.
c1840American clockmakers apply ogee style to clocks.
1841Bain is awarded first UK patent for electrical clock.
1842Hipp builds his first electrical clock.
1842First electromagnetically operated clock is built by Alexander Bain (1810-1877).
1845Wagon-spring clock introduced by Joseph Ives (1782-1862) of Bristol, Connecticut
1850sSilas B Terry produces regulator movement.
1850sAiry asks Edmund Beckett Denison (1816-1905), later Lord Grimthorpe, to advise on construction of the great clock of Westminster, 'Big Ben'
1854Dennison incorporates his double three-legged gravity escapement, the first gravity escapement, in the movement of the Westminster clock.
1855John C Briggs of Concord, New Hampshire, patents his rotary clock.
1858British Horological Institute is formed to protect Britain's horological industry
1860sBlack Forest clockmakers adopt American methods and styles.
1861Prince Albert dies, clocks of more sombre colours, such as the black 'marble' mantel clock, make their apearance.
mid-1870sAngelus clock introduced by Angelus Clock Co of Philadelphia
1878Ingersoll introduces the 'dollar watch'.
1879Anton Harder, a German, produces the first 400-day, or 'anniversary', clock.
1880First men's wristwatches produced for German military.
1884Greenwich Meridian chosen as prime meridian of longitude.
1889Munich inventor Sigmund Riefler designs 'free' pendulum.
1891Riefler patents pendulum compensated for expansion/contraction with heat by mercury in a hollow rod.
1895Frank Hope Jones (1868-1950) and George Bennett Bowell patent the Synchronome, the first reliable master-and-slave system.
1895Invar, an allow with a very low coefficient of expansion, is invented by Charles Edouard Guillaume, 1861-1938.
1898First speaking clock patented in Switzerland by Casimir Sivan of Geneva
1905First radio time signal broadcast from the Navy Yard at Boston, Massachusetts.
1918American Henry E Warren patents the first synchronous electric clock.
1920M T Favre-Bulle invents the electric clock which bears his name, the Bulle.
1921First free-pendulum clock devised by William Hamilton Shortt (1882-1971), is installed at Edinburgh Observatory.
1929Dr Warren A Marrison develops quartz clock
1936Speaking clock introduced on British telephone network.
1943National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors is organised in Philadelphia
1949First atomic clock built
1957First battery-powered balance-wheel wristwatch introduced by Hamilton.
1959Accutron introduce electric watch with balance-wheel replaced by tuning fork
late 1960sQuartz techology introduced to domestic clocks and watches.
1960sFloating balance introduced to reduce friction between the balance pivots and their bushes.
1976Great clock of Westminster, 'Big Ben', fails and breaks up inside the clock tower (5th August)
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