Your Dream Watch

The simplest of all the methods of regulating the velocity of the train, and one which certainly existed before De Vick’s time, is the fan fly, or a pair of arms with vanes which are resisted by the air. I think it by no means improbable, though it is never likely to be ascertained now, read more »

At the head of these of course stand the oldest of them all, sun-dials. But it would be a waste of time to say much about them, except in the forms in which they may be made subservient to the more useful and accurate machines by which they have been superseded. The principal feature of read more »

—It must be remembered that these are only the theoretical lengths of simple pendulums with all the weight concentrated in the centre of the bob, and that this theoretical length by no means coincides with the actual length down to the centre of gravity of the pendulum, but is always longer. This length may properly read more »

Before we go into the theory of pendulums we should notice the one other mode of regulating the motion of a clock-train which existed long before pendulums were applied. The earliest escapement of which there is any known description is that which De Vick’s clock had, and which is called the crown-wheel escapement. The object read more »

Part I, Early Development Curiously, the modern wristwatch is a little more than one hundred years old. Although personal, portable time pieces had been around since the 1400s, they were crafted one at a time and were luxury items produced for the nobility and wealthy. The first known wristwatch was crafted in the 1830s and read more »