Timepieces: Masters of Chronometry

by David Christianson (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2002

  $11.37

  Over the centuries, clocks have slowly, methodically and inextricably come to regulate every aspect of our lives. Timepieces tells the history of clocks and how the pursuit of an ever better clock has had a remarkable influence on scientific and technological developments. The 800-year journey to a perfect clock involved the greatest thinkers, scientists and mechanical geniuses, including those who improved the accuracy of mechanical clocks to such a degree that sailors could successfully determine longitude. That advance alone resulted in an explosion of travel, commerce and political expansion that would change the world map.

  Tracing the history of the key machine of the modern industrial age is a remarkable way to trace the histories of technology and society. Each chapter focuses on one era of the clock's growth:

  • The Celestial Clock A Call to Prayer The Priceless Possession of a Few From Tabletop to Waistcoat and Beyond The Craft Era in Watchmaking The Industrial Revolution Swiss Watchmaking The Standardization of Time The Quartz Revolution

  Illustrated with beautiful artworks and photographs from museums and clock collections, Timepieces is a thorough and attractive historical survey.

• Used

  Hardcover
  2002

  $6.71

  From the early Greek and Chinese waterclocks to the modern day atomic clocks, this is a compelling story, sympathetic to the amateur clock enthusiast. Showcasing the eminent movers and shakers, from Galileo's first attempts at devising a pendulum, Leonardo's early ideas for clock mechanisms, Fromanteel's grandfather clocks, Thomas Tompian, Berthoud, and Le Roy to Harrison's Longitude Prize, that gave rise to some of the most fascinating stories in horology. Featuring the early tower clocks of the monasteries, the exuberantly ornate French designs of the 15th century, the miniaturization of the mechanism that led to the first watches, the influence of the Swiss timepieces, and the importance of the American wooden clocks, Timepieces tell the fascinating story of 1,000 years of innovation and design in time.