Who does not have a few clocks in his or her home? Everyone needs them and we all use them each and every day of our lives. There are many different kinds of and most of us own several. There are many different clocks, wall, grandfather, the ever popular alarm and, of course, my personal favorite Coldplay. Clocks are simply a part of our lives the whole world round, there is even a world clock and an atomic clock. We just cannot escape these infernal, yet useful machines.

The history of clocks goes far back into the past of humans. The sun dial was an early form, it was a rather rudimentary design but it was accurate and it worked for people back then. Now of course we are even busier and we need to be more precise about everything that we do. We are always rushing off to somewhere and without clocks we would not be able to get there in time. In fact it seems as though time runs our lives these days.

Wall clocks are a great addition to any room in your home. They are attractive and they do not take up any floor space. Most of us are lacking in the floor space that grandfather clocks need so we make do with wall clocks.

Wall clocks are also nice because they are easy to make room for. They come in all different shapes and sizes, which make them perfect for squeezing in on even a busy and full wall. Wall clocks look great in any home with any décor. There are all kinds that are plain enough to match anywhere in any room. These are the most popular of all and thankfully the least expensive as well.

You can find some pretty exciting looking clocks as well. If you like to make a statement then you will want to choose ones that are a little different from the everyday. This means looking to clocks that are perhaps bright and colorful or even large and full of fantastic art forms. Strange and unusual shaped ones are a big hit as well and your home could definitely benefit from these.

Grandfather clocks are something that many people have had passed down to them from past generations in their family. Other people go searching for them. These are some of the most fantastic and glorious clocks in the whole world. They are generally large, though how large may differ from one example to the next.

Some of the best grandfather clocks are the older generation. These can be found in antique stores or online auctions and they are generally very expensive. In fact, all of them tend to be quite expensive but they are always well worth the money that you spend on them. They make wonderful heirlooms for you to pass down in your own family. This is a clock that your great grandchildren will feel honored to receive down the line.

How Time Was Measured Before the Clock

How many times have you wondered, “What time is it?” and turned to your wrist only to find you forgot to put on your watch. We have become so programmed to know what time it is and schedule our lives around it that it is second nature to bend your arm, turn your wrist and get the answer. It has not always been so easy, or even necessary as you will see by looking back to a time before clocks and watches.

Like Night and Day

The precision with which we measure time today is light years away from how it was done, not so long ago. Time was once measured completely by the universe around us – and still is in a sense when you understand the science and physics behind the measurement of time and what makes a clock work (more on this in part 2). What earlier civilizations knew and relied upon each day was that the sun came up and went down and that block of time became a day. To measure greater expanses, the moon and its reliable cycles were also observed. The moon was used to measure the time period which came to be known as a month – more technically a lunar month of 28 days – or the time it took for the moon to go from new to crescent to full and new again.

Ancient Civilization

Even more than just observing the moon, sun, and planets, there are artifacts that show us that time was measured a bit more precisely. Early calendars and “clocks” were found in what is now Iraq, once the dwelling place of the ancient Sumerians, and consisted of a calendar that was divided into 30 day segments according to the cycle of the moon. It was then divided into 12 sections which corresponded to 2 hours of today’s time. Further, the calendar was sectioned off into 30 more parts equivalent to 4 modern-day minutes.

Stonehenge is located in England and was built more than 4,000 years ago. Not much is completely understood about this mysterious structure, but the way it is positioned has scientists believing that it somehow was used to record seasons and the phenomenon of lunar eclipses and the like.

Sundials

The Sumerian culture passed away without the information about their timekeeping being discovered until more modern times. The next phase of more precise time measurement was used by the Egyptians. They created the Obelisk around 3500 BC which looked like today’s Washington Monument, well-known to visitors of the Nation’s capital. This tall, tapered monument would cast shadows throughout the day, but was primitive still in how closely the time periods could be measured. It mostly reflected a change between morning and afternoon, and how the days would get shorter or longer with the seasons.

The sundial on the other hand was first used about 1500 BC and was a much smaller and more portable timekeeping device. It was divided into 10 equal parts with two additional segments representing twilight and dawn. The sundial itself then emerged from a horizontal plate to a bowl shape with pointer and inscribed lines to mark off the hours. It is believed that by 30 BC there were more than 13 different styles of sundials used in the evolving societies of Asia Minor, Italy, and Greece.

When one thinks about the precision of a finely crafted Swiss timepiece it is hard to imagine a time when time was so ambiguous. Could society function without time measurements to the very minute? Perhaps in another millennium society will wonder how we functioned living in just one time.

This is the first of a series of articles on the evolution of time measuring and how timepieces come to become what they are today.