Electric clock technology helps conquer the sea. Traditionally, timekeeping at sea has been managed by the hourglass: sailors ring a bell every 30 minutes, with ‘eight bells’ marking the end of a four-hour watch. However, from the later nineteenth century,…
When catering to domestic markets, clockmakers had to combine accuracy, price, and style. Though electric and electro-mechanical clocks were quickly adopted in institutional settings, domestic take-up was slower. Many clockmakers struggled to make electric clocks that were sufficiently reliable, and…
How electric clocks made networked time. Today, we take synchronised time for granted: our phones, computers and digital timekeepers are silently updated by satellites or radio waves, and we have one time across the country, no matter where we are.…