Mechanical watch history. A Brief History of the Creation and Development of Watches
The first hours were… stellar. According to observations of the movement of the Moon and the Sun in Mesopotamia and Egypt, about 4,000 years ago, the methods of the sexagesimal time reference system arose.
A little later, the same system independently arose in Mesoamerica - the cultural region of North and South America, stretching from the center of modern Mexico to Belize. Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and northern Costa Rica.
All these ancient clocks, in which the "hands" were the rays of the Sun or shadows, are now called solar. Some scientists refer to the sundial stone structures-circles like Stonehenge, found in different parts of the world.
But megalithic civilizations (ancient ones, those that made structures from large stones without using a binding solution) did not leave behind written evidence of time accounting, therefore scientists have to build and prove very complex hypotheses of understanding time as a matter and the actual origin of watches.
The inventors of the sundial are called the Egyptians and Mesopotamians, or Mesopotamians. However, they were the first to count the time: they divided the year into 12 months, day and night - into 12 hours, an hour - into 60 minutes, a minute - into 60 seconds - after all, in Mesopotamia, the kingdom of Babylonia. 
This was done by the Babylonian priests using a sundial. At first, their instrument was the simplest watch with a flat dial and a central shaft that cast a shadow. But during the year the sun set and rose differently, and the clock began to "lie".
The priest Beroz improved the ancient sundial. He made the clock face in the form of a bowl, exactly repeating the visible shape of the sky. At the end of the needle-rod, Beroz fixed a ball, whose shadow measured the hours. The path of the sun in the sky was accurately reflected in the bowl, and on its edges the priest made markings so cunningly that at any time of the year his clock showed the correct time. They had only one drawback: the watch was useless in cloudy weather and at night.
Beroz's watch served for many centuries. They were used by Cicero, they were found on the ruins of Pompeii.
The origin of the hourglass has not yet been clarified. They were preceded by water clocks - clepsydras and fire clocks. Sandboxes, according to the American Institute (New York), could have been invented in Alexandria in 150 BC. e. 
Then their trace in history disappears and appears already in the early Middle Ages. The first mention of an hourglass at this time is associated with a monk who served in the Cathedral of Chartres (France) using an hourglass.
Frequent references to the hourglass begin around the 14th century. Most of them are about the use of clocks on ships, where it is simply impossible to use either fire as time meters. The movement of the vessel does not affect the movement of sand between the two vessels, nor does the change in temperature, because the hourglass - for sailors: bottles - showed more accurate time in any conditions.
There were many models of hourglasses - huge and tiny, which served for various household needs: from performing a church service to measuring the time needed for baking.
The use of hourglasses began to decline after 1500, when mechanical clocks began to be actively used.
Information on this issue is contradictory. But most scientists are inclined to believe that the first mechanical clock was created in 725 AD. e. Chinese masters Liang Lingzan and Yi Xing, who lived during the reign of the Tang Dynasty. 
They used a liquid anchor (trigger) mechanism in the watch. Their invention was perfected by masters Zhang Xixun and Su Song of the Song Empire (late 10th - early 11th century).
However, later in China, the technology fell into decay, but was mastered by the Arabs. Apparently, it was from them that the liquid (mercury) anchor mechanism became known to Europeans, who from the 12th century began to install tower clocks with a water / mercury escapement.
The weights on the chains become the next clock mechanism: the wheel gear is driven by the chain, and the spindle travel and the folio balancer in the form of a rocker with moving weights are regulated. The mechanism was highly inaccurate.
In the 15th century, spring-loaded devices appeared, which made it possible to make the watch small and use it not only on towers, but also in houses, carry it in your pocket and even on your hand.
There is no exact information about the invention. Some sources call the year 1504 and a resident of Nuremberg, Peter Henlein. Others attribute the introduction of the wristwatch to the name of Blaise Pascal, who simply tied a pocket watch to his wrist with a thin rope. 
Their appearance is also attributed to 1571, when the Earl of Leicester presented Queen Elizabeth I with a bracelet with a watch. Since then, wristwatches have become a women's accessory, and English men have a saying that it's better to wear a skirt than a watch on your hand.
There is another date - 1790. It is believed that it was then that the Swiss company "Jacquet Droz and Lesho" released the first wrist watch.
It seems that everything connected with the clock is somehow mysteriously hidden either by time or by history. This is also true for electronic watches, for the invention of which there are several contenders at once. 
The “Bulgarian version” seems to be the most probable. In 1944, the Bulgarian Petyr Dimitrov Petrov left to study in Germany, and in 1951 - in Toronto. A talented engineer becomes a member of NASA programs, and in 1969, using his knowledge of space technology, he creates the filling for the first Pulsar electronic watch.
The watch is produced by the Hamilton Watch Company, and the most authoritative watch expert G. Fried calls their appearance “the most significant leap forward since the hairspring was invented in 1675”.
Watches are an essential item in everyday life. Now it's hard to imagine how you can do without it. It is curious to know where the history of the emergence of such a necessary and interesting invention originates, and what the first watch was like. The history of watch creation.
Over the entire period of its existence, watches have changed in form and style more than once. These transformations took more than one hundred years. The first time the expression "clock" was mentioned in the XIV century. In Latin, this expression meant "call". Before the advent of the clock, it was not easy to determine the exact time: in ancient times, people did this by the movement of the sun in the sky. There are several positions of the sun relative to the sky: in the morning the sun is at sunrise, at noon - in the center, in the evening - at sunset.
The history of watch creation began with the world-famous - solar. They appeared and first began to be used in everyday life as early as 3500 BC. The main idea of their device is as follows: a stick was installed, from which the sun's shadow should fall. Accordingly, the time was calculated from the shadow, which was directed to the numbers on the disk.
The next type of clock functioning with the help of water, called clepsydra, appeared in 1400 BC. They were two vessels with a liquid, water. One of them contained more liquid than the other. They were installed at different levels: one is higher than the other, and a connecting tube is stretched between them. Through it, the liquid moved from the upper vessel to the lower one. Vessels were marked with marks, and from them they found out what time it was, taking into account the level of the liquid. Such watches received great popularity and recognition from the Greeks. Here they are further developed. In the lower vessel was a float with marks. When the water from the upper vessel dripped into the lower vessel, the float rose, and from the marks on it one could tell what time it was. 
In addition, another brilliant discovery belongs to Greece: the division of the year into 12 identical parts: months, and the month into 30 identical days. Given this division, in ancient Greece the year was 360 days. Later, the inhabitants of ancient Greece and Babylon divided hours, minutes and seconds into equal parts. At first, it was customary to divide the day into 12 parts from sunrise to sunset. Then these parts began to be called hours. However, the duration of the night in different seasons was not the same. It was necessary to come up with something to eliminate these differences. In this regard, soon the day was divided and made up 24 hours. Still, there was one unresolved question: why divide the day and night into 12 equal intervals? It turned out that this is the number of moon cycles in one year. But the idea of dividing the hour and minute into 60 parts belonged to the Sumerian culture, although numbers in ancient times were an important component in almost all cultures.
But the first watch with an arrow appeared in 1577 and was far from ideal in use. Clocks with a pendulum most accurately determined the time, they appeared in the years 1656-1660. The main disadvantage of such clocks was the pendulum: it had to be wound after it periodically stopped. The clock was marked with 12 numbers, so the hand makes two full circles per day. In this regard, in some countries, special abbreviations appeared: the time before and after noon (A.M. and R.M., respectively). In 1504, the wristwatch, which was attached to the wrist with a thread, recognized the world. And in 1927, a quartz watch was invented in Germany (quartz is a type of crystal), which most accurately determines time, unlike previously invented ones.
The question that has been asked for thousands of years is, "What time is it?" Throughout history, there have been many devices that have been invented to answer this question. From sundials to atomic clocks, mankind has solved this riddle.
In the old days, the position of the sun in the sky gave the best indication of time. If the sun was directly overhead, then it was noon. At night and on cloudy days it was impossible to tell the time in this way. People started using sun shading to be more accurate and protect their eyes since they no longer needed to look at the sun. The Egyptians are credited with being the first to build large obelisks to provide shade around 3500 BC. By 1500 B.C. improved sundial began to be used. Another invention during this period was the hourglass, which used water. Both of them had their limitations, especially in graduation and when changing temperatures. Sand was introduced into the use of hourglasses only in 700 AD.
The first mechanical clock was invented in the 14th century. These watches used springs, levers and adjusters, they usually did not have pointers or dials, they just rang the clock. Later there were dials and pointers.
In the 15th century, barrel springs were developed and the size of watches was greatly reduced. Also, thanks to the cylindrical spring, wristwatches were later invented.
Until this time, clocks were not very accurate, but the invention of pendulum clocks by Christian Heigen in 1656 was the beginning of accuracy. His pendulum clocks were accurate to one minute daily, rather than the earlier spring clocks, which were accurate to fifteen minutes.
In the next century, the British Parliament announced a significant reward to anyone who could solve the problem of accurate timekeeping. There were many theories on how this could be achieved, and the two main theories relied either on the stars or on accurate clocks. The prize was won by John Harrison, who, after numerous experiments with watches, lost only five seconds out of six.
During the 19th century, many discoveries were made that allowed clocks to be mass-produced. The prices of watches have been greatly reduced, and now they have become common household items among ordinary people. The most used were pocket watches.
Only in 1884 did countries agree on time zones with a clear relationship between them. They are still active today. GMT is still regarded by many as the place where time begins.
At first, wristwatches were only worn by women, but during World War I, men also started wearing wristwatches, which became more common than pocket watches. It is said that during the war, soldiers found wrist watches more suitable than pocket watches.
Since the 1960s, most clocks have been powered by quartz rather than coil springs. These watches are much cheaper and very accurate. The global navigation and positioning system, commercial reconnaissance, cell phones and other interesting devices can already be built into wristwatches today. And what will happen next?
Elena Krylova
Summary of the presentation lesson "History of watches" (for children of the middle group)
Watch History
Under the ticking of the clock, the teacher reads riddles.
Two girls, two friends
Walk together, one after another
Only the one that's real
Walks a little faster
And the other, shorter
Like it doesn't want to move.
And so they go round and round
Two girls, two friends
And every time we meet
They say what time it is. (hands on the clock)
Walks all century.
Not a person. (Watch)
They knock, they knock
Don't be bored.
They go, they go
And everything is right here. (watch)
Walking around
One after another. (arrows)
Modern life without watches is unimaginable. In the morning they wake us up for work, in the evening we set an alarm clock so as not to oversleep, and every New Year we meet to the sound of chimes.
A miracle of technology watch, or not, but it took mankind seven thousand years to create them. Over the millennia, a huge variety of different devices for measuring time have been invented.
Slides 4-5. The very first hours on earth are solar. Their device was simple: a pole was installed in the center of the circle, and the circle was divided into sectors. Time was determined by the shadow of the pole. Such clocks were installed in the city center on the squares.
But such watches had a number of shortcomings. What do you think? (children's answers)
The sundial had one significant drawback: it could only "walk" on the street, and even then on the sunlit side. In addition, they could not be taken with you, put in your pocket.
That's why the water clock was invented. (slide 6). Drop by drop, water flowed from one vessel to another, and by how much water flowed out, it was determined how much time had passed. Such watches served people for a long time. In China, for example, they were used 4.5 thousand years ago.
Water clocks were generally public. Fire clocks were used in houses, mainly candle clocks. (slide 7-8). Marks were applied to the candle, and thus time was measured by burning the candle. Painted marks could replace carnations. Falling on an iron tray, they announced the passage of time by ringing.
Unlike water and fire, the hourglass was used mainly as a timer. (pass 9). The first hourglass appeared around the 11th century AD and became widespread. Inexpensive and compact, they were used by scientists, cooks, priests, sailors and artisans.
(slide 10).At the end of the 16th century a new discovery was made. The young scientist Galileo Galilei, observing the movement of various lamps in the Pisa Cathedral during the service, found that neither the weight nor the shape of the lamps, but only the length of the chains on which they are suspended, determines the periods of their oscillations from the wind breaking through the windows. He owns the idea of creating clocks with a pendulum (slide 11).
Physical education minute (slide 12).
Tick tock, tick tock
All clocks go like this:
(Tilt your head to one or the other shoulder)
See what time it is:
Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.
(Swing to the beat of the pendulum)
Left - one, right - one.
We can do it too
(Legs together, hands on the belt. On the count of “times”, tilt your head to the right shoulder, then to the left, like a watch)
Pendulum clocks were generally bulky and heavy. (slide 13).After the flat spring was invented in the second half of the fifteenth century to replace weights, master Peter Henlein of Nuremberg made a watch that could be carried around. Flat pocket watches were widely used. (slide 14) for such watches, special pockets were sewn on clothes. Now we can find such pockets in jeans pockets. (The pocket on the children's jeans is shown).
By the end of the nineteenth century, watches began to be mass-produced. The first wristwatches were women's models. Richly decorated with precious stones, they looked like jewelry. Men fastened their walkers with a chain to their waistcoat pocket, but by the 90s of the nineteenth century, officers of the Russian army began to wear chronometers with a ring through which they could be tied to their arm with a rope. Since then, the watch has not left the wrists and the strong half of humanity (slide 15).
Many inventors tried to improve watches, and at the end of the 19th century they became an ordinary and necessary thing.
Some watches are world famous, and even have names. What clock do you know?
Listen carefully when you and I hear this clock. ( chimes of the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin). On New Year's Eve at midnight, under the sound of these chimes, we celebrate the New Year.
The most famous clock (slides 16-18): Chimes of the Moscow Kremlin Big Ben Prague chimes Zimmer's Tower
Summarizing.
What types of watches are there?
What clock do you like?
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Short-term project "History of watches" Short term project
History of watches for children.Conversations about time.
Let's talk about the types of watches.
What is the name of the device that counts the time within a day?- Such a device is called a clock.
The oldest clocks used by people to roughly know the time are solar clocks. The dial of such a watch was placed in an open place brightly lit by the sun, and the clock's hand was a rod that cast a shadow on the dial.
From antiquity came to us and hourglasses. Maybe some of you have seen them? After all, the hourglass is still used in medicine, when you need to measure a small, but very specific period of time.
An hourglass consists of two small cone-shaped vessels connected at their apexes to each other, with a narrow opening at the junction of the vessels. The upper vessel contains sand, which seeps in a thin stream through the hole into the lower vessel. When all the sand from the upper vessel is in the lower, a certain time passes, for example, one minute.
Now let's talk about modern watches. Each of us has a clock in our home. Maybe not alone. This is a home clock.
Try to talk about them. Where are they located? What is their shape?
Watches are wrist. They are worn on the arm with a bracelet or strap.
Fashionistas like beautiful watches in the form of a pendant or a ring. A pendant on a chain is worn around the neck, and a ring is worn on the finger.
Some men prefer massive pocket watches. They are attached by a chain to a belt and worn in a trouser pocket.
You probably have an alarm clock at home.
Why do we need such hours? - The alarm clock can be set at a certain hour, and with its bell or melody, it will wake us up at the right time.
A clock that is usually placed on a desk is called a table clock, a clock hanging on the wall is called a wall clock.
Where do you think the grandfather clock is? - This clock is on the floor. They are tall, massive, with heavy weights attached to chains, and with a melodic fight. Mantel clocks adorn indoor fireplaces.
Listen to the poem "Clock with a fight."
Once upon a time there was an old woman
(For a long time already at rest),
And the old woman had
Clock carved with a fight.
"Ding dong, ding dong!" —
Beat every hour
Rumble filled the house
And they woke us up at night.
Of course, we were not silent
We knocked on the old woman's door:
"Save our ears,
Stop the clock fight!"
But the old woman answered us
She answered: "No and no!
The clock speaks to me
I love their gentle fight.
Ding dong! Ding dong!
How beautiful is their chime!
Even though he's a little sad
But transparent and crystal!
Days, weeks passed.
But the clock suddenly rattled
The arrows shuddered and stood up,
And the clock stopped striking.
It became quiet. Even creepy!
We have long been accustomed to the fight,
(But this is not a joke!)
There was something alive in him!
We, of course, did not remain silent,
There was a knock on the old lady's door.
"Why can't you hear the fight?
We need a watchmaker!"
Here comes the watchmaker
Wise, experienced old man,
And he said, "That's it!
Here the spring is weakened,
The mechanism will be lubricated
And the clock - love and affection!
He changed the spring.
And the bell rang again
Silver chime:
"Ding-dong! Ding-dong!",
Bringing the whole house to life!
What kind of clock "can cook"?- Cuckoo-clock! A "cuckoo" is hiding in a clock made in the form of a patterned wooden hut. Every hour the door of the house opens and the cuckoo appears on its threshold. She loudly sings: "Ku-ku, ku-ku", reminding us of what time it is now.
Listen to the poem "The Cuckoo Clock".
Lives in a carved hut
Cheerful cuckoo.
She cuckles every hour
And wakes us up early in the morning:
"Coo-coo! Coo-coo!
It's already seven in the morning!
Ku-ku! Ku-ku!
It's time to get up!"
The cuckoo does not live in the forests,
And in our old clock!
There are also clocks on city streets and squares. They are installed on towers, buildings of stations, theaters and cinemas.
The most famous clock in Russia is the Kremlin chimes, installed on the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin.
The first clock on the Spasskaya Tower appeared at the beginning of the 17th century. They were created by the English master Christopher Galovey. For his work, he received a royal gift - a silver goblet and, in addition to it, satin, sable and marten furs.
After some time, the Russian Tsar Peter I ordered another watch from Holland. At first they were transported by ship by sea, then delivered on 30 wagons to the Kremlin.
Master Galoway's old clock was removed and replaced with a Dutch clock. When this clock also fell into disrepair, another large chiming clock, stored in the Armory, was put in its place.
For several centuries, the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin has been decorated with clocks. A whole team of experienced watchmakers maintains their work, making sure that the clock does not lag behind and does not rush. 117 stone steps lead to the chimes. Behind them, the cast-iron steps of the spiral staircase begin, leading to the eighth floor. Here is the mechanism of the chimes.
"The iron colossus is all shiny, oiled. The polished copper disks of the dials shine, the levers are painted with red paint, the gilded disk of the pendulum, similar to the circle of the sun, shines. It reigns over this system of shafts, cables, gears that form a complex mechanism for counting time" (L Kolodny).
On December 31, with the first strike of the Kremlin chimes, the country enters the New Year. Hearing the beat of the famous clock, we wish each other happiness and Happy New Year!
The watches used by modern man are mechanical. Then they need to start at certain intervals.
The mechanical clock was invented in the 17th century. scientist Christian Huygens, since then they have faithfully served us.
In the second decade of the XX century. electronic and quartz watches appeared. They run on batteries or mains electricity.
And the most accurate clocks are atomic.
Do you know what kind of clock is called natural or living?
In the old days in the village, of course, Petya the cockerel was such a living clock. The peasants noticed that the first time the rooster crowed at about two in the morning, and the second time at about four in the morning.
Listen to the poem "Cockerel" about this.
Crow crow!
The cockerel sings loudly.
The sun lit up the river
A cloud floats in the sky.
Wake up, animals, birds!
Get down to business.
Dew sparkles on the grass
July night has passed.
Like a real alarm clock
The cockerel woke us up.
He fluffed his shiny tail
And straightened the comb.
Have you heard of the flower clock?
In the morning on a sunny meadow where dandelions grow, you can find out the time even without a wristwatch. Dandelions unanimously open at five in the morning, and by two or three in the afternoon they extinguish their golden lanterns.
Listen to a poem about dandelions.
By the river there is a green meadow,
Dandelions all around
Washed with dews
Opened up friendly.
How the lanterns burn
We are told to you:
"It's exactly five o'clock,
You can still sleep!"
Dandelions are meadow clocks .. But water lilies are river clocks. No wonder they are called "hours of tourists." At seven o'clock in the morning, they open their snow-white petals towards the sun's rays and turn after the sun throughout the day.
Questions and tasks:
- What is a watch?
- What old clock do you know?
- What kinds of watches do you know?
- What types of clocks are home?
- What hours are street hours? How are they different from home?
- Tell us about the Kremlin chimes.
- What "natural" hours do you know?
T.A. Shorygin "Conversations about space and time". Toolkit
