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The First Clock - Origin of the Sundial

A sundial is a timepiece that tells the time using the movement of Earth on its axis. As Earth rotates throughout the day, the sun creates shadows that move along with the sun's apparent position in the sky. People discovered that these shadows can be used to tell the time. Although today, it's much more common to glance at a clock or a watch to keep track of the time, people used to rely on the sun to mark the hours.

The Mechanics Behind Watches and Clocks

Have you ever looked at a clock or a watch and wondered what makes it tick? It's really quite simple. Inside of watches and clocks, there are a bunch of gears that work together to measure the time. The parts inside of a clock might look really detailed, but in fact, the timekeeping function of mechanical clocks can be explained with only five elements!

Learn to Tell Time on Your Watch

From watches to grandfather clocks, there are plenty of analog and digital clocks in your life, and you need to learn how to read them. Telling time is an important skill to learn so you can be on time for all of the fun activities in your day. Playing games and making crafts can help you to practice this skill and have fun!

Set Your Watches! Kids' Guide to Time Zones

Have you ever noticed while watching television that when a commercial promotes a new episode, they mention different time zones? That's because Earth is divided into 24 different regions that each have a different time. These regions are separated by longitude lines that are roughly 15 degrees apart. So depending on which way you travel, time moves forward or back an hour for each 15 degrees of longitude that you go through.

A History of Horology, Clockmaking, and Watches

The history of timekeeping dates back to approximately 2000 BCE, when ancient civilizations observed the Moon and Sun as they moved across the sky. This eventually led to the development of timekeeping devices. The ancient Egyptians were one of the first civilizations to devise a way to track time by dividing the day into two 12-hour periods. The Egyptians used obelisks (a tall, four-sided monument which tapers at the top in a pyramid formation) to mark the sun's rays by reading the shadow it made. They also used sundials and developed water clocks, which were later adopted by the Chinese, the Persians and the Greeks.

Watch features: Chronographs

The chronograph is one of watchmaking's most recognized complications, but it is often misunderstood. With several hands whizzing around the main dial and a collection of sub-dials (normally two or three) it can be easy to get confused. Additionally, it is not uncommon for the bezel to be printed wi...

Watch Styles: Dress Watches

If you want to get a good idea of what the modern watchmaking industry regards as a dress watch, you have to look back in time to the classic, thin watches that used to be worn by many. Common features include a small (by modern standards), gold (or gold-toned) watch, with a classical typeface (either Roman numerals or an elegant Arabic script) or baton markers, set against a plain dial background.

Watch Styles: Racing Chronographs

Racing chronographs make up a very specific, but highly popular niche of watchmaking. In fact, as a testament to their popularity, the most expensive wristwatch ever sold - at a price tag of $17,750,000 - is a racing chronograph. But before we discuss the remarkable story of that particular watch, l...

Watch Features: Jumping Hours/Minutes/Seconds

One of the first things you associate with a mechanical watch is the smooth sweep of the seconds hand. In fact, many people would assume that the easiest way to tell the difference between a quartz watch and a mechanical watch is whether the hands "sweep" or "step". Regrettably, for fans of neat def...

Watch Styles: Sports Watches

In 2019, Odell Beckham Junior stepped onto the field in Week 1 of the NFL football season with a 350k Richard Mille strapped to his wrist. He wasn't alone. Tennis star Rafael Nadal powered his way to a 19th Grand Slam title while sporting the same brand. On the greatest stage, under the brightest li...

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