Interesting Facts about TIME, Clocks & Watches

[ten10]

Here are some interesting facts I've found out through the years chatting with customers and friends.

Just feel free to add what you know...

1) In most watch advertisements the time displayed on the watch is 10:10 because the arms frame the brand of the watch (and make it look like it is smiling). The other reason is it looks like a ‘tick mark’ of Quality.

2) On board a ship, the day was divided into Seven Watches, and the crew into two divisions - the Starboard (on the steersman's right) and the Port (on the steersman's left). These divisions break up the watching and working of the ship into convenient portions, and enable to crew to watch and work at alternate times. The Time is kept by means of bells , which are struck at certain intervals

3) The earliest known clock with a water-powered escapement mechanism, which transferred rotational energy into intermittent motions, dates back to 3rd century BC ancient Greece.

4) Mechanical clocks employing the verge escapement mechanism were invented in Europe at the turn of the 14th century, and became the standard timekeeping device until the spring-powered clock and pocket watch in the 16th century

5) The wristwatch was invented by Patek Philippe, in 1868, but only as a “lady’s bracelet watch”, intended as a fashion jewelry.

6) One of the world’s most confusing timepiece is the Cabestan Winch Tourbillion Vertica.

7) Wristwatches gained in popularity during World War I, when officers found them to be more convenient than pocket watches in battle.

8) When Sir Edmund Hilary climbed Mt. Everest (the first human to conquer the mountain) in 1953 he wore the Rolex Oyster.

9) The Oxford Dictionary stated that the word “Time” is the most often used noun in the English language.

10) Switzerland have a long history of watchmaking and are uncontested leader in luxury watches with such brands as AP, Frank Muller, JLC, PP, Longines, Tissot, Rolex, Rado and many more.

11) Vacheron Constantin was founded in Geneva, Switzerland in 1755 and is the oldest watch manufacturer in the world with uninterrupted history.

12) Today a lot of leading watch-making companies, such as Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Tag Heuer, IWC, Rolex, and Breitling manufacture platinum watches. In fact, platinum is not a 'new' metal in the horology field. Watchmakers have long noticed advantages of using platinum in watch production. The metal neither tarnishes nor wears out and is ideal for gems' setting.

[ten10]

Ooops! Sorry forgot two more facts...

13) Vacheron Constantin became one of the first watch manufacturers to master the skills of working with platinum. The brand's used the metal in watch-making as early as in 1820. In 2006 the Vacheron Constantin Company unveiled its Vacheron Constantin Collection Excellence Platine that comprised two remarkable models - the Patrimony Contemporaine and the Malte Chronograph.

14) All platinum timepieces created for the Vacheron Constantin Collection Excellence Platine will first be introduced in a limited edition. The watches with a platinum case and clasp will feature a platinum dial bearing the inscription 'PT950'.

[oliverlay]

Thanks for the information, very interesting facts. However i am confused on your point 5) and 11) where it state that Patek invented the first wristwatch in 1868 wheras VC was founded in 1755 and is the oldest watchmaker with uninterrupted watch maling history. This is a bit confusing for me.

Any other information on that?

[pegasi]

That's because the first watch was a pocket watch. Most watches were pocket watches even after wristwatch was invented, until wristwatches became popular in the 1920s, and then gained futher popularity after WWI (this point is mentioned by bro ten10 too).

[oliverlay]

Thank you for the clarification. It was misinterpretation on my part as I always equate watch to wristwatch.

[ten10]

I wonder if anyone here collects Pocket Watches? Maybe can start another thread for Pocket Watch Appreciation...

Here's some more Interesting Facts to digest

15) Like cloche in French, the word clock literally means bell. When the large mechanical device was invented in the 14th century, it didn't tell time with a face and hands, but rather by sounding bells on the hour, and eventually on the quarter and half hour. This time device was called a clock because it told time by sounding bells. O'clock, example 11 o’clock… 12 o'clock etc., is an abbreviation for "of the cloche" or "of the clock" or "of the bells."

16) In Latin, Invicta means ‘invincible’.

17) The first digital electronic watch, a Pulsar LED prototype in 1970, was developed jointly by Hamilton Watch Company and Electro-Data.

18) Originally, Rolex was named Wilsdorf and Davis as Wilsdorf founded the company in 1905. The name was changed to Rolex in 1915. Hans Wilsdorf and his wife owned orphanages in Switzerland and donated profits of the company to various charities and orphanages.

19) The Seiko model H558-5009 Diver’s watch was nicknamed “The Arnold” and is highly sought after. It got its name after actor Arnold Schwarzenegger wore it in the Predator movie.

20) Every 24hrs a dragonfly dies; that’s their life-span. What a Life!

21) The current sexagesimal system of time measurement dates to approximately 2000 BC, in Summer.

22) Why do clocks go clockwise?
A clock is an instrument that indicates and maintains time and passage. Before clocks were established, the terms “sun wise” and “deiseil” were used. The earliest form of time keeping dates back to 3500 B.C. These words are from the Scottish Gaelic. They refer to the direction of the clocks hands. Have you ever wondered why clocks run clockwise? The definition of clockwise is the same direction as the hands of a clock. Well that makes sense. It may seem like a funny question but let us explore it. Inventors who were trying to make models of the suns movement in the sky invented clocks in the northern hemisphere. Today this region is actually Iraq! To watch the sun from this hemisphere you have to face south.

Therefore, the sun would rise on your left and pass over your head to set on the left. Therefore, the hands of the clock were designed to move left to right over the clock clockwise. The hands were modeled after the design of a sundial-(a vertical stick or obelisk). It is described as a tall four-sided shaft of stone that casts as shadow.

So, rightfully, our timepieces today were invented in the Northern hemisphere. If it were first invented in Africa, we would be dealing with a counter clockwise movement. This is because everything is reversed southern hemisphere.

23) Australia has both horizontal and vertical time zones in summer. Wah... confuse!

24) In 2000, Rolex introduced its in-house chronograph caliber 4130 used in the Daytona series.

[yattokame]

any idea why ROLEX is named ROLEX?

have read somewhere - rumoured to sound like hoROLogical EXcellence, some say it's just a word pronounceable and read the same in most languages

[ten10]

yattokame is correct. I found that out too!

Good question relac88.

Here's more...

25) The pendulum clock was invented by Christian Huygens in 1656.

26) In the Arabic language, the word for clock is the same as the word for “hour”.

27) Never ever move the hour hand of a cuckoo clock when changing the time. Always move the minute hand otherwise the clock will need to see a clock doctor. This action upsets the sensitive functions of the time mechanism.

28) The Blancpain 1735 has 740 components, some of which are no thicker than a human hair.

29) The reason some clocks utilize quartz is because quartz pulsates in 1 second increments thus enabling the second hand to maintain accuracy.

30) The first alarm clock was invented in Concord New Hampshire by Levi Hutchins in 1787. It was never patented as the inventor didn’t care about money, he just didn’t want to oversleep anymore.

[ten10]

Some more for you...

31) The minute hand was invented by Jost Burgi. Burgi's invention was part of a clock made for the famous astronomer Tycho Brahe. Brahe needed an accurate clock for his stargazing.

32) The word "clock" comes from the French word "cloche" meaning bell. The Latin for bell is "glocio", the Saxon is "clugga" and the German is "glocke".

33) There are no clocks in a casino. There are also no windows. (Did you notice?)

34) Prior to 1995, International Date Line split the country of Kiribati.

35) There were two special features on the Rolex Submariner in the James Bond movie ‘Live and Let Die: - A magnetic Field Generator and a bezel that doubles as a saw.

36) Russia is geographically spread across 12 time zones but officially observes only 9 of them.

37) The word "circadian" comes from Latin "circa diem" and means "about one day." Circadian clocks run on a cycle that is approximately 24 hours long.

38) Horology is the science or art of measuring time. It is a science that started in the days of the Babylonians, who came up with the idea of the sixty second minute and the sixty minute hour.

39) Big Ben refers to the big building in London.

40) A simple (basic) mechanical watch has about 130 miniature components. The caliber 89 made by PP has 1728 parts and is considered one of the world’s most complex watch built.

[breitling77]

Thanks for the informative news! You are not only a good box maker and a good writer! Thanks

[EMboss]

awesome read! morning dose of expresso for the watch lovers.

[timefreak2000]

Wonderful write out ! Thanks for sharing

[ten10]

Thanks guys!

There are a total of 125 Facts I've gathered and will post it here.

Just to make it interesting, I'll plant 5 wrong facts and by the end of the 125 Facts I hope someone can spot the 5 wrong ones.

The first person spotting these 5 and naming them will win a prize from me. It'll be a watchbox and will be worth your read and time!

Thanks for your good words and staying around to follow my post.

A little more 'expresso'...

41) Breguet was the most preferred watch of the Russian Tsars and it was also worn by Napoleon at Waterloo.

42) A nanosecond is one billionth of a second... a long time compared to the femtosecond, the attosecond and the shortest possible unit of time - known as Planck time. (Any relation to “Planking”?)

43) John Harwood of Switzerland invented the self winding watch in 1923.

44) The Tudor brand was launched in 1946.

45) The Julian calendar assumed a year is exactly 365.25 days - about 10 and three quarter minutes too long. By 1582, it was 10 days out of sync, so Pope Gregory XIII decreed that 10 days should be lost to put things right.

46) “Clock” is also a slang for ‘human face’. So when a person says he’s going to clean your clock, it means he’s going to punch you in the face.

47) If it’s six seconds between seeing a flash and hearing thunder, you are roughly about 2km away from the strike.

48) The first pocket watches were invented in Tudor, England, in the 16th century. These pocket watches were incredibly big, which is why people wore them around neck. There are rumors that in the famous painting of Henry VIII, the medallion on his neck is a big pocket watch, which he owned, and not a medallion how most people think.

49) An early prototype of the alarm clock was invented by the Greeks around 250 B.C. The Greeks built a water clock where the raising waters would both keep time and eventually hit a mechanical bird that triggered an alarming whistle. (I don’t think it’ll work for me!)

50) Chronotherapy is a new area of medicine that uses information about body clocks to treat illness and optimize health.

[ten10]

Adding more info...

51) In a year Rolex uses 10 liters of oil for all the movements it manufactures and service.

52) The time interval from first sighting of the iceberg that sank the Titanic to impact was slightly over a minute.

53) Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have built the world's most accurate clock. Because aluminum is a better timekeeper than mercury, the team based the clock on a single atom of aluminum. This latest atomic clock is accurate to one second in about 3.7 billion years.

54) Throughout history, time has been measured by the movement of the earth relative to the sun and stars. The earliest type of timekeeper dates back to 3500 B.C. It is known as a shadow clock, or gnomon. It was a vertical stick or obelisk that cast a shadow. An Egyptian shadow clock from the 8th century B.C. is still in existence.

55) Clocks made before 1660 had only one hand - an hour hand.

56) Leonardo daVinci drew a sketch of a fusee for a clock. The system used in his sketch was later used in watch industry.

57) In 1386, England's first known public clock was located at Salisbury Cathedral. It had no minute or hour hands, and only indicated the time by chiming each hour.

58) At Julius Caesar's command in 46BC two new months were introduced - July named after him and August after his successor Augustus. This Julian calendar also had leap years.

59) Starting in 1987 Rolex started putting a letter in front of its serial numbers.

60) An average person falls asleep in 7 minutes.

[ten10]

Some more facts...

Remember, I've intentionally planted 5 wrong facts in this mini contest. Read all 125 Facts and try to spot the 5!

61) On a Roman numeral clock face, the number 4 is written as ‘IIII’ instead of ‘IV’ as it appears today.

62) Rolex made all the original Panerai watches for the Royal Italian Navy from 1936 to 1956.

63) In 1583 Galileo Galilei realized that how often does a pendulum swing depends on its length.

64) There is a famous clock in France called the Strasbourg astronomical clock. The current clock in the cathedral, completed in 1842, is one of the most complicated mechanical clocks ever made.

65) A Grandfather clock is over 6 ft. in height. A Grandmother clock is 6 ft. or under, and a Granddaughter clock is less than 5 ft. Which one do you have?

66) In 1914, when a wristwatch was shown at an exhibit in Switzerland, it was called “just a passing fancy.” Today, this “passing fancy” is the number-one jewelry item in the world!

67) There are all kinds of phobias in the world. Chronomentrophobia is the fear of clocks while Cherophobia is the fear of fun and Taphephobia is the fear of being buried alive. Clinophobia is the fear of beds. Pogonophobia is the fear of beards.

68) When Chopard made the 201-carat watch, it became the world’s most expensive watch at USD25million.

69) In 1795 Breguet was the one to invent the tourbillon which till today represents a great horological achievement. It compensates watch errors caused by gravity. Even today tourbillon is one of the most sophisticated mechanisms to manufacture.

70) The world’s first anti magnetic watch was created by the famous Swiss watchmaker Hublot.