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We have always wanted to know the time of day. In the Stone Age, sticks were put in the ground, and people saw how the direction and length of shadow changed throughout the day. Sundials were developed as early as 5,500 years ago in Egypt. Personal sundials were around in Roman times. By the 1270s, mechanical clocks appeared on towers in English and Italian cities. As technology improved, clocks became smaller until eventually, they were small enough to put on a wall or table in a house. Soon they were small enough to fit in one's pocket. Thus a pocket watch was an extension of clock-making technology rather than an invention in its own right.

A pocket clock is mentioned in a letter by Italian clockmaker Bartholomew Manfredi in 1462. He offered the Marchese di Manta a "pocket clock" superior to that of the Duke of Modena, who must have already owned one of these gadgets at the time. Spring-driven clocks were invented in Italy in the late 1400s. Using this technology, German locksmith Peter Henlein first made a portable watch during a period of asylum between 1504 and 1508. It could run for forty hours without rewinding. He created the first pocket watch in 1524.

Early pocket watches were cumbersome, box-shaped or drum-like contraptions, more suited to wearing around the neck than trying to squeeze into one's pocket. But watch-making soon spread through Europe and England. Henry VIII probably wore a watch on a chain around his neck.

They were not particularly accurate though. Large clocks kept better time, but neither clocks nor watches had minute hands until much later. Pocket watches became noted as ornaments rather than as useful timepieces. A variety of craftsmen, such as watchmakers, casemakers, enamelers, jewelers, and engravers, came up with elaborate cases and dials. French watches, in particular, were quite decorative and expensive. It became the fashion among the aristocracy to wear and show off their pocket watches, their accuracy being of secondary importance. As accuracy of pocket watches improved, the extravagant styles diminished.

The invention of the balance spring in 1675 by Dutchman Christian Huygens meant that clocks and pocket watches were accurate enough to add a minute hand. By this time, a good watch was accurate to about ten minutes a day. Improvements in escapement, or the working mechanism of a watch or clock, further improved accuracy, as did jeweled bearings to reduce fiction. Abraham-Louis Breguet created a self-winding watch in 1780.

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