The History of Time: How it Came to the Wrist

The alarm goes off at 7 a.m., we go to the office at 8:30 a.m. and football training at 7 p.m. – our daily routine is precisely timed. But how did this time come about that determines our everyday life? And how does it affect our wrist? Below you will find out since when we actually know "what time" it is and we always keep an eye on the time.

Appointments then and now

Inviting friends or family over for dinner is easy these days. You give them a time and the guests are standing together at the door when everything is ready. But how exactly did it work before clocks existed? Back then, people based their time on external events, such as the position of the sun, or they arranged to meet "at dusk" or "when the cock crowed." Depending on how you interpreted this phrase, the food might not be ready or it might already be cold - or the date might have already been canceled. People just didn't take it so seriously.

Time has its origin in the monastery

The Babylonians already divided day and night into twelve sections, although exact times have not been around for very long. The strict division of the day originated in monasteries, where the ringing of the hours set the pace for the monks and nuns' work and prayer phases. This was eventually adopted by cities, where the ringing of the public hour bells, for example, was the signal for the opening and closing of the city gates, while church bells announced the upcoming mass. The length of the hours was based on candle, water or sundials and varied depending on location and time of year. The sundial was invented by the ancient Egyptians around 5,000 years ago. It is circular with several time sections. However, time could only be measured during the day in sunlight. The water clock was independent of the time of day, just like the hourglass that followed it and the so-called wheel clock from the 14th century onwards. The wheel clock already contained the first basic elements that can still be found in mechanical clocks today: It had a balance wheel, a not quite as accurate precursor to the balance wheel used today.

creation of a precise time

The development of exact time only began in the 14th century. At that time, mechanical clocks and striking mechanisms from Italy made their way all over Europe. This meant that every citizen could find out what time it was, until what time they were allowed to work, or when they had to leave for an appointment. Mechanical clocks initially had a deviation of 15 minutes per day. Over the course of the following decades, however, they became increasingly more precise. However, the time differed from city to city, so that each individual place practically represented its own time zone. There was no one correct time. As incredible as this may sound today, these differences hardly caused any problems. Since moving from one city to another was only possible by long journeys, the time deviation was rarely significant.

Business calls for uniformity

This changed, however, in the 18th century, when calls for synchronized time became louder due to increasing trade and traffic. A universally valid time was essential, especially for the post office, in order to be able to deliver shipments as agreed. The factories of the industrial age ultimately marked the end of vague time calculations. Time became an economic resource and public clocks with precise minute and second displays became widespread. A binding, uniform time has only existed in Germany since 1893. This was ensured by the railway, whose timetables had to be determined to the minute. The synchronization of the entire country was therefore essential and this laid the milestone for the modern world with exact timing as we know it today.

Time always with you

The invention of the wristwatch was of course enormously helpful in keeping up with the correct time and keeping important appointments. Nowadays it is quite natural to wear it on the wrist, but the timepiece for the arm has actually only been around for about 200 years. In that time it has also undergone considerable development. Once time had become so important, pocket watches came onto the market. They were initially made by locksmiths, as there were no watchmakers yet. The new timepieces were quite large and usually attached to chains or ribbons. Men wore them in their vest pockets, women around their necks. At first they were expensive luxury items and only available to the nobility, and ordinary citizens had to continue to orient themselves using town bells and other indicators.

From the pocket to the hand

When the balance wheel and hairspring were invented in the 15th century, it became possible to build more precise clocks and make cases smaller. In 1812, Abraham-Louis Breguet produced the first known wristwatch at the request of Queen Caroline Murat, Napoleon's sister. However, this new type of watch took time to gain acceptance in society. It was not until the end of the 19th century that many women decided to wear watches on their wrists. At that time, however, men still preferred pocket watches; the wristwatch was considered "effeminate" - but for them too, it was to be the watch form of the future. At some point, however, men also noticed that it was sometimes somewhat impractical to have to take the watch out of their pocket every time to read the time. If you perform an activity with both hands, this was a difficult or even impossible task. For this reason, Louis Cartier designed the Cartier Santos, the first wristwatch for men, in 1904. It is named after his friend, the aviation icon Alberto Santos Dumont, who had no chance to find out the time while flying. Thus, the first timepiece in the popular watch category of pilot's watches was born. Santos is still a central and extremely popular collection from Cartier today. The first German wristwatch was a "Darling" by Thiel in Ruhla, Thuringia, and was launched in 1912.