Watches
The keeping of time
dates back to the beginning of civilization. Historians believe that
portable sundials were
probably developed in Egypt and Mesopotamia before
1500 BC. One of the first actual watches was created
in Italy almost 3000
years later, around 1524 AD. But these timepieces were nothing like the
watches we've
come to know today, and normally had to be wound at least
twice a day. Until the early 1800's, all watches
were hand-finished. But,
during the beginning of the 1800's, Eli Terry developed machines, patterns
and
techniques that produced clock parts that were exactly alike. This was
a huge breakthrough in timekeeping
technology, as parts could now be mass-produced
and interchanged from one clock to another. This allowed
the price of watches
and clocks to drop significantly, and consequently they were no longer the exclusive
luxury
of the wealthy.
As the 20th
century progressed, watch advancements accelerated. The first quartz
clock, accurate to within
1-2 thousandths of a second per day, was
developed in 1928 by W.A. Marrison of Bell Laboratories.
Quartz technology
was subsequently adapted for use in wristwatches. In 1952, battery-powered
watches
became available and very popular. Another great breakthrough in
watch-making came in 1967 when the
atomic clock was invented. This clock
used the oscillations of cesium-133 atoms to tell time that was
practically void of any error. During the 1970's, electronic watches with
LCD and LED displays were extremely
popular as they were highly functional
and very inexpensive. Improvements and innovations also centered on
the
quartz movement, improving batteries and the new atomic watches. By 1998,
keeping time was more
popular than ever with about 500,000,000 watches
sold each year.
Some of the most exciting watch technologies have
been developed in the last 10 years. They take advantage
of new
technologies and materials used in other industries and are incorporated
into such incredible innovations
like Tissot's touch-screen watches (the
T-Touch), Citizen's solar-powered Eco-Drive watches and Seiko's
Titanium
watches. Each of these and many others continue to expand even the
daydreamer's idea of fabulous
timepieces. As the years continue to pass,
one can only speculate on the unbelievable watches
that are going to
follow!
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