gran Posted June 30, 2007 Report Share Posted June 30, 2007 Water Clock Lots of intrest in water resistant watches lately but using water to tell time is a totally different strategy.... Just read this "Water clocks, along with the sundials, are possibly the oldest time-measuring instruments, with the only exceptions being the gnomon and day-counting tally stick" "Through the centuries, water clocks were used for timing lawyer's speeches during a trial, labors of prostitutes, night watches of guards, sermons and Masses in church, to name only a few" Never seen a "water clock" in use I am now wondering what the oldest time measuring insterument might have been I would like to get some input on what the earliest time-measuring instrument might have been and how old that device might be, do you have any input on this? g. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geo1nah2a Posted June 30, 2007 Report Share Posted June 30, 2007 Oldest clocks are the sundials http://www.love-watches.com/Sundial.htm Oldest chronometer is the hour glass (fluid or sand based) http://www.love-watches.com/Hourglass.htm " How old is the sand-glass? We do not know definitely, but it is said to have been invented at Alexandria about the middle of the third century B. C. That it was known in ancient Athens is certain, for a Greek bas-relief at the Mattei Palace in Rome, representing a marriage, shows Morpheus, the god of dreams, holding an hour-glass. The Athenians used to carry these timepieces as we do our watches' !!cool!! It was used for timing the defense speaches in the ancient greek courts among other things. Oldest complication watch is the antikythira mechanism found in a ship wreck near the coast of a greek island. http://horology.org/htu-anti.html All of these are dated B.C. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archibald Posted June 30, 2007 Report Share Posted June 30, 2007 The first mechanical astronomical "complication" is at least 2000 years old. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism Also a great New Yorker piece on it a few weeks ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b16a2 Posted June 30, 2007 Report Share Posted June 30, 2007 Not quite on the topic, but something interesting I learned the other day. As part of the Royal Naval Reserve, I get to go on some pretty interesting trips. I went to Yeovil a few months ago to do some flying, and we went to the museum down there. Apparently the word watch originates form the Navy. A bell would be rung with certain number of gongs representing a certain time, so the rest of the ship knew what time it was. This was done by the Officer of the Watch, hence the name watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gran Posted June 30, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2007 Not quite on the topic, but something interesting I learned the other day. As part of the Royal Naval Reserve, I get to go on some pretty interesting trips. I went to Yeovil a few months ago to do some flying, and we went to the museum down there. Apparently the word watch originates form the Navy. A bell would be rung with certain number of gongs representing a certain time, so the rest of the ship knew what time it was. This was done by the Officer of the Watch, hence the name watch. This is a winderful piecec of information b16a2 Thank you!!!! I have been wondering about the origin of the term watch and you may have found it "Officer of the Watch, hence the name watch." but do we know for sure that this is the origin? In fact. I was wondring if it had something to do with Vacheron Constantin being the world's oldest watchmaker (uninterupted manufacturing since 1755). Jean-Marc Vacheron established his own company in 1755. I was even wodering if it had something to do with looking (watching) the timepiece...especially these http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showto...mp;#entry272885 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b16a2 Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 I think it may be the origins, but would love to hear if there are any that predate the Navy's, I should have asked the time period from when it came! There are a couple of others too....Warning Thread Hijack Start Fill your boots - In the navy they used to have water canteens made out of leather (I think) called boots, so the captain would used to say, 'go fill your boots' Three sqaure meals a day - The Naval plates used to be wooden and square. They were served three meals a day, hence the saying. On the fiddle - These plates had a lip around the edge, to stop the food slopping over the sides (especially in rough sea's) which was called 'the fiddle'. Some sailors would take food off of other sailors plates, and in doing so, they were going over the fiddle, and therefore the term, 'on the fiddle' came about. End of Thread Hijack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FxrAndy Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 I remember a teacher at school telling me that the first time mesurement device was a burning rope or string???????? Would stone henge also count it was after all used to detemine the time of year acuratly so there for a time mesurement device, although i think the sun predates that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rag9fx Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 i don't know if this on topic or not ... but i believe one of the earlies horological instruments was a essentially a clay bucket with a hole near the base ... not entirely sure how it was calibrated but there would be markings on the interior so that time could be told by the corresponding water line... and an interesting thing about the gong reffrence b1682 made i saw a program on the tele a little bit ago where they had one of these water clocks in a temple in India(?) and i believe when the bucket emptied it self some one hit a gong and refilled it or somthing like that . --- they're called datum pots i just looked it up--- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gran Posted July 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 i don't know if this on topic or not ... but i believe one of the earlies horological instruments was a essentially a clay bucket with a hole near the base ... not entirely sure how it was calibrated but there would be markings on the interior so that time could be told by the corresponding water line... and an interesting thing about the gong reffrence b1682 made i saw a program on the tele a little bit ago where they had one of these water clocks in a temple in India(?) and i believe when the bucket emptied it self some one hit a gong and refilled it or somthing like that . --- they're called datum pots i just looked it up--- Hole in a bucket is a "water clock" @FxrAndy Burning a candle would work...but a string sounds improbable Stone hange and the like certainly a timemeasuring instruments as well. Maybe measurements using the heavily bodies and stones laid out in patterns predated the sundial? I guess that measuring time was more important in the more nothern and southern latitudes than it was close to the equator? Who knows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rag9fx Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 Yes Stonehenge is most probably some sort of time measuring device ... but i am always very skeptical of theories surrounding stonehenge ... it is also probable that it is just a whopping large pile of rocks (i don't mean to offend anybody)... my ex was big into into wicca and wholistic things -and i found it all incredibly dubious and just a little bit to crunchy for my liking . But its cool gunner that you have a Vetruvian reffrence on your first post... i was discussing with a mate of mine who thinks Mechanical watches / clocks are really superfulous status symbols... but I tend to think that they are much more than that ... mechanical watches or watch making really has such a rich tradition and is really an artform in its self... thats one of the main reasons i don't own anything quartz anymore... possibly all very irrelevant but i thought i would add since i have really enjoyed this thread ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gran Posted July 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 Yes Stonehenge is most probably some sort of time measuring device ... but i am always very skeptical of theories surrounding stonehenge ... it is also probable that it is just a whopping large pile of rocks (i don't mean to offend anybody)... my ex was big into into wicca and wholistic things -and i found it all incredibly dubious and just a little bit to crunchy for my liking . But its cool gunner that you have a Vetruvian reffrence on your first post... i was discussing with a mate of mine who thinks Mechanical watches / clocks are really superfulous status symbols... but I tend to think that they are much more than that ... mechanical watches or watch making really has such a rich tradition and is really an artform in its self... thats one of the main reasons i don't own anything quartz anymore... possibly all very irrelevant but i thought i would add since i have really enjoyed this thread ! Thanks One of Leonardo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rag9fx Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 Having studied art history and coming from a rather Platonic renaissance ( sp?) Catholic up bringing Vitruvius was major player in my education. Da Vinci's Vitruvian man in particular being a siginificant in the concept of man being the measure of all things... Vitruvian besides being a great historian/ documentarian was also an exceptional engineer ... etc etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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