Clock

Telling Time Throughout The Ages

By Mmjensen
  • 3000 BCE

    First Method of Telling Time

    Determining the time of day by the location of the sun in the sky. Knowing it is noon when the sun is directly above.
  • 3000 BCE

    Shadow Cast on Obelisk

    Early Egyptians told time by the sun's shadow cast on an obelisk.
  • 300 BCE

    Candle Burning to Tell Time

    Not 100% sure on date Once candles had been invented, people used them to tell time at night. They made notches to represent a period of time.
  • 300 BCE

    Sundial

    People in Babylonia started using a sundial, adapting methods used by early Egyptians.
  • 300 BCE

    Knot Tying

    Not 100% sure on date In Ancient China, they would tie knots at regular intervals on a thick rope, then burn the rope. People could tell how much time passed by looking at how many knots had been burned.
  • 300 BCE

    Water Clocks

    Not 100% sure on date Early Greeks and Egyptians designed a water clock that used the flow of water to measure time.
  • Jan 1, 1100

    Hourglass

    In Europe in the 11th Century, this became one of the first tools designed to tell time not dependent on the sun. Small ones were used to measure minutes and larger ones for measuring hours.
  • Jan 1, 1300

    Mechanical Clocks

    The first mechanical clocks appeared in Europe in 1300 CE
  • Jan 1, 1400

    Watches

    Italy is where watches and time pieces people could easily carry appeared in the 1400s.
  • Jan 1, 1500

    12 Hour Clock System

    Early Egyptians were the first to use the 12 hour clock system dividing the day into two periods: dusk and dawn, Early Romans also used a 12 hour clock that divided day and night into 12 equal hours.l
  • Jan 1, 1500

    Started Using O'Clock

    In the 15th Century, people started adding O'Clock after stating the time.

  • AM/PM

    As people began to write the time more frequently, they began to add am or pm after the time.

  • Pendulum Added to Mechanical Clocks

    By the 1600s, European scientists and inventors added a pendulum to increase the clocks accuracy.

  • Currently

    In the early 1800s, the International Dateline was established and later on, daylight saving time was a fourth way of standardizing time.

  • 24 Hour Clock

    By the 1800s, many people began to use the 24 hour clock originated with the ancient Babylonians.

  • Standard Time

    At the International Prime Meridian Conference, railway companies persuaded countries to agree to global time zones and standard time within each zone.