When China's "Zhong" originated, there are different records in the existing history books. "Shan Hai Jing Hai Nei Jing" said: "The grandson of Emperor Yan gave birth to drums, which is the beginning of the bell." "Lu Chunqiu. "A Midsummer Season" said: "In the past, the Yellow Emperor ordered Ling Lun to be the law. ..... The Yellow Emperor also ordered Ling Lun and Rong Jiang to cast twelve bells, ... "Pipe. Five types of articles: "The former Emperor Huang made five sounds and treated for five minutes according to his urgency. It took five minutes, and one day, the green bell rang; Second, the center of gravity of Kurenai Rin; Third, Ling Huang shines; Fourth, the landscape clock is not clear; Fifth, the black clock is hidden. "There is also a legend created by a man named Cui in the Yaoshun era. Of course, some scholars believe that the clock originated from two clocks and so on.
The first clocks were made of ceramics. A new era pottery clock was unearthed in Miaodigou, Shaanxi County, Henan Province. It is about 9 cm high and 5 cm in diameter. The resonator is cylindrical, and the top is cylindrical with a short handle.
During the Xia and Yu Dynasties, bronze bells appeared. From16th century BC to Shang Dynasty before 1 1 century BC, there were clocks and watches of various shapes in China. From the musical instruments unearthed in Yin Ruins, we can already see several simple bronze cast clocks.
In the Zhou Dynasty, Zhong ranked first among the eight tones in the classification of ancient musical instruments, and it was a golden musical instrument. In ancient times, bronze bells were musical instruments used for ceremonies and banquets in ancestral temples or courts. It has been used in elegant music for generations. Now it is only preserved as a cultural relic, which has important historical value and high artistic value.
Modern clocks have a long history.
Tens of thousands of years ago,
Man has learned to observe and master the running law of time.
From the corona to the atomic clock, the way humans master and measure time,
More and more scientific and complex.
The real development of clocks and watches stems from the understanding and popularization of science and technology since16th century.
With the design, improvement, manufacture and popularization of timers,
Clocks and watches began to surround us and progress with the progress of human society.
It not only improves our way of life, but also becomes a fine work of art and priceless treasure.
Now, let's visit this clock history hall.
Look, 500 years from now,
How many stories have happened in the familiar and unfamiliar world of clocks and watches?
1480-1511:an early portable timer. PETER HENLEIN of Nuremberg made the first pocket watch, which was egg-shaped, copper-plated and single-needle, and could only indicate approximate time. This table is also called "Nuremberg Egg", and Haehnlein's idea was quickly imitated, which led to other "Nuremberg Eggs".
1485: Leonardo da Vinci drew a clock with a conical pendulum. This structure was used by later clocks and watches.
1535: The watchmaking industry is seriously influenced and impacted by religion. Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation swept Geneva. Prior to this, Geneva was famous for jewelry processing rather than watchmaking.
154 1: jean chauvin came to Geneva to set up a Protestant Reform Center. Protestants fled from Paris and other major watchmaking cities to Geneva. Calvin once made a strict law prohibiting opera, dance and other forms of artistic entertainment, which also included wearing expensive clothes and jewelry. At first, it seemed to be a blow to the gem processing industry in Geneva, but a loophole in the law created opportunities for them. Calvin believed that watches were used for scientific research, so he allowed watches to exist in the harsh Protestant laws. Since then, jewelers have cooperated with watchmakers who fled from other places to make jewelry watches, enamel watches and carved watches. Such cooperation has also opened the era of high-end watch industry in Geneva.
1575: At this time, there were more and more barrel watches until the appearance of oval watches in 1600.
In the early fifteenth century,
Ordinary watches have become popular, and the shape of the case has also diversified. At this time, case carvings with religious themes were very popular, such as the images of "skull" and "cross".
Mid-fifteenth century
The watch has a double shell. That is to say, in addition to the shell, there is also a case to protect the movement.
1635: The history of this stage mainly revolves around the changes of the conical wheel pendulum-from clocks to watches. Its function is to help the clockwork average energy, whether the chain is full or the clockwork force is running out, it can have the same working effect.
1657- 1675: Christian Huygens invented a watch named "REMONTOIRE" in the Netherlands, and the escapement of this watch works more coherently. At the same time, the spiral hairspring of the balance wheel pendulum has also been produced. This patent belongs to 1664 robert hooke or 1675 christiaan huygens, and Thomas Tompion also applied for this patent in the same year. Whoever invented this structure greatly improved the accuracy of clocks and watches. At this time, the daily error of the watch is only a few minutes, and there is already a minute hand.
1687: Daniel Quare made a special mechanical timer with the function of ringing every minute and every hour.
1700: The horizontal column escapement was invented by Thomson or George Graham.
1704: Peter, JACOB DEBAUFRE and NICOLAS FACIO used rubies on the movement, which successfully reduced the friction and improved the movement life and accuracy.
George Graham invented the deadbeat escapement.
1725: George Graham invented the cylindrical escapement to make the watch lighter.
1750: In order to read the time conveniently and clearly, we began to use enamel technology for calibration. Even today, making enamel watches is still time-consuming and laborious.
1755: Jean Marc Vacheron starts personal watchmaking. He later formed the famous "Vacheron Constantin" with Francois Constantine.
1759: Thomas mutch invented the British lever escapement. Its greatest advantage is that it can keep winding the watch.
176 1- 1762: john harrison's navigation timer was the first watch to measure longitude, so he won a large prize.
1770: The watch case began to be refined, and the tortoise shell and enamel painted watch case became popular, which made the pocket watch develop into jewelry.
1773: john harrison was rewarded for making an accurate navigation timer.
1775: Abraham Louis Breguet established a personal watchmaking shop in Paris.
1780: ABRAHAM LOUIS PERRELET, an early master of Breguet, invented the self-winding movement. This technology was developed by Breguet later.
1783: Abraham Louis Perrelet invented the disc spring of the chronograph to make it slimmer. He also designed his own style of hands and numbers.
1783: Breguet started making the famous "Queen Marie Antoinette". This watch has the functions of self-pendulum, three questions, perpetual calendar, independent second hand counting, astronomical time difference, thermometer and so on. At the same time, this watch uses a crystal surface to show its gorgeous movement. It's a pity that the watch has been made for too long, and the French queen can't see the finished watch. 1983 This watch was lost in the Jerusalem Museum, and now its whereabouts are unknown.
1786: Breguet used cross decorative patterns on its dial for the first time, which not only made the surface beautiful but also clear and readable.
1790: Breguet invented an umbrella-shaped shock-proof device to protect the tip of the pendulum shaft.
179 1:J. F. Bautte founded GIRARD-PERREGAUX's predecessor watch factory.
179 1: Breguet invented tourbillon, which was one of the greatest achievements in his life. It can make the escaper offset the position difference. This technology is still the highest position in the manufacture of watch machinery.
1795: Breguet invented the double-layer hairspring. It effectively improves the accuracy and is still used in advanced tables.
1798: Breguet invented the "sympathetic nerve" clock. When the watch is not in use, put it into the groove of this clock for adjustment and setting. Later versions can also help with winding. 199 1 This device has been improved.
1799: Breguet invented "TACT" watch, also known as "blind watch". People who wear watches can feel the time through the exposed indicator.
Late sixteenth century
With the change of watch manufacturing, the compact movement and richness of watches have reached an unprecedented level.
Early seventeenth century
Because Breguet invented the disc spring, the chronograph became very compact and became popular at this time.
180 1: Breguet obtained a patent in tourbillon.
Thomas Yang Faming set the timer.
1809: Luther Goddard of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts opened the first watch factory in the United States, but only produced about 600 watches.
18 10: Breguet made the first watch for the Queen of Naples. There are other brands that say they created the first watch, but Breguet's first watch is the earliest recorded.
1820: Thomas Prest registered the patent of automatic winding.
182 1: Rieussec obtained the patent of chronograph. There is also a saying that the timing device was invented by Breguet.
1827: Breguet's Marie Antoinette was finished four years after his death. The main part is completed by watchmaker MICHAEL WEBER.
1830: Seven years after Breguet's death, Breguet Company invented a watch with the same handle for time adjustment and winding. And compete with other companies for this patent application.
1833: Antoine Lecoultre started his own watchmaking industry and later became a famous Jaeger-LeCoultre watch factory.
1837: The first Tiffany store opened.
1838: AUDEMARS of Swiss Watch Factory applied to improve the first watch, using the same handle for time adjustment and winding.
1843: Adrian Philippe starts to manufacture watches with the same handle for time adjustment and winding.
1844: The patent for the start, stop and reset of chronograph was applied by Adolf Nicole, who worked in this field until 1862.
1844: Antoine Lecoultre applied for a million meter meter patent, and this precision system helped the movement to be miniaturized again.
1845: Adolphe Lange started making watches at the end of Grasu.
1845: Adrien Philppe joined Patek Philippe; Company. Thus formed the famous Patek Philippe &; Company.
1846: Ulysse Nardin was established.
1847: Antoine Lecoultre began to manufacture watches with the same handle for timing and winding.
1848: Louis Brandt started his business in LA CHAUX-DE-FONDS, the predecessor of Omega.
Mid-seventeenth century
Swiss watches began to dominate the world watch market, and women's jewelry watches were very popular. Due to the development of science and technology, watches have been mass-produced, the price has become easy to accept, and the accuracy has been greatly improved. Perpetual calendars, receipts, word skipping tables and segmented timers are also increasingly used. Swiss escapement is more popular than British escapement because of its high accuracy and low wear.
1850S: The barrel pendulum replaces the cone, and the clock structure is further compact.
185 1: "Warren manufacturing company" was founded, which is the predecessor of the most important company in American watch history, "Waltham Watch Company".
1853: Tissot made the first double timepiece.
1856: Etna has been established. I used to call you. Schild ETERNA's name was used after 1906.
1858: Minerva was founded.
1860: TAG Heuer was established. It is famous for its timer.
1860: Chopin was founded.
1865: True strength holds.
1868: An American named Florence came to Schaaffhausen from Boston and founded the international WATHC company, namely IWC, Universal Company.
1869: Yili was established.
65438+CIE is established.
1880: Girard-Perregaux became the first company to mass-produce watches for the military.
188 1: movado was established.
1884: Breitling was founded.
1884: The Isoprime Meridian was established in Greenwich, England.
1886: Genevaseal has been established.
1891:On April 19, 2009, a train accident killed 1 1 people. The reason for the accident was that the train dispatcher's watch stopped. Through this tragedy, people realize that it is necessary to have a unified standard time to improve the accuracy of watches. The official requirement for the railway meter is that there is an error of more than 30 seconds within a period of 7 to 14 days. American watches of this period are extremely accurate, such as Howard and Waltham.
1892: AARNE BONNIKSEN of Coventry, England applied for the patent of "KARRUSEL" similar to that of tourbillon.
1892: Hamilton was founded in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Now it is owned by Swiss Swatch Group.
1892: ingersoll released "USD" watches, which are mass-produced and cheap. 19 16 years, ingersoll once made16,000 such watches in one day. Their slogan is "Watch makes money famous".
1894: Universal Geneva was established.
Late seventeenth century:
Watches have become popular, especially in the army. Many pocket watches have been replaced by matching watches.
1904: Cartier made a watch for Alberto Santos Dumont. This watch became a commodity in 19 1 1, and it is still the most popular watch in Cartier, and it is often copied.
1905: Hans? Wilsdorf and his brother founded Rolex Company, named Wilsdorf &; Davis, the name Rolex is registered in 1908.
1906: Omega made the first minute repeater watch, and the movement came from AP.
19 12: Movado introduces Polyplan watch, which is the first watch with an arc movement and case. There are other watches that use curved case, but the technology of curved movement is a new achievement.
19 14: Eterna made the first alarm clock watch.
19 17: Cartier launched the "Tank" series, and the success of this watch continues to this day.
19 18: Shakesha Company was founded in Japan and became a citizen on 193 1.
1920: Charles Edouard Guillaume won the Nobel Prize for inventing Invar (Inexpansive Steel) and Elinvar (Nickel Steel Alloy Constant Elastic Steel). The advantage of this synthetic metal is that it has excellent thermal expansion performance and is not easily affected by temperature difference. This metal can be used on the hairspring to improve the accuracy of walking.
1920 ~ 1930: decorative arts are popular because watches are very popular, and the sales momentum of pocket watches is declining.
1923: John Harewood is the first person to make a self-winding watch. This watch is inlaid with bezel and has no crown.
1924: Quintairo Hattori of Tokyo founded Seiko, which was once called "Timer". They started making clocks from 188 1.
1925; The first year in solar time.
1926: Rolex introduces the first waterproof watch "Oyster", which has a double-locking crown, which is locked by screws to isolate moisture.
1927: Mercedes Gl crossed the English Channel wearing a Rolex watch, which was Rolex's first action in public and played a role in making Rolex the most famous watch in history.
1928: Jaeger-LeCoultre introduced the "Atmos" clock, which is a very peculiar clock that relies on temperature changes to provide power. The temperature change is only 1 degree Celsius, which is enough to power this clock for two days.
1929:W？ Answer? Marison invented the quartz clock.
1929: Jaeger-LeCoultre made the world's smallest movement: CAL. 10 1。 Its size is only 14mm×4.8mm×3.4mm, and its weight is only1g. ..
1929: Tissot created the first antimagnetic watch.
193 1: Jaeger-LeCoultre launched the "Reverso" series, which is specially designed for golfers. The case can be turned upside down to protect the watch glass, which is one of the earliest sports watches in the world. Today, Reverso has developed into a huge series, including tourbillon, three questions, double movements, jewelry watches and other kinds.
193 1: Rolex introduced the self-winding watch "perpetual motion".
1932: Patek Philippe launches the first watch "Calatrava" series.
1933: The development of metallurgy led to Nivarox alloy, which was used to make hairsprings. Nivarox is harder to make than Elinvar, and it is anti-magnetic and will not rust. This kind of hairspring is divided into several grades, and Nivarox 1 is the best. Nivarox is still used in many high-end watches.
1933: ingersoll introduced Mickey Mouse Watch, which is not the first funny people watch, but it is definitely the most popular watch. Its success comes from other watch manufacturers' funny people watches, which are now very collectible.
1935: Gruen introduced the "Curvex" series, which was very successful in the 1940s when there was a huge demand for watches with curved cases.
1937: In the northwest of Geneva, the famous Lallee de Joux and Edond Jaeger from Jura Mountain joined LcCoultre to form Jaeger Jaeger.
1942: Breitling launches "Chronomat" series.
1945: Rolex launches "Datejust" series.
1948: Omega launches "Seamaster" series.
1948:Eterna installed ball bearings on the self-winding pendulum for the first time to reduce friction.
1952: Breitling launched the "Navitimer" series, which is the best in the flight list.
1953: Rolex launches "Submarine" series.
1954: Rolex released "GMT Master" series.
1955: Rene Bannwart, the designer of Omega, left her job and started her own company Corum (Kunlun).
1955: Louis essen and JVL· Perry invented the first atomic clock.
1956: Rolex launched their first dual calendar watch.
1957: Buren made the first self-winding list with Pearl Tuo.
1959: Piaget introduced the 12P movement, which is the thinnest self-winding movement in the world, with a thickness of only 2.33mm.
1960: baoluhua has launched a very successful "Accutron" series. Battery-driven tuning fork replaces balance wheel. This structure is much more accurate than previous electronic watches.
196 1: Movado launched the "Museum" series, which is still popular today. The dial was designed by Nathan George 14 years ago.
1962: RADO launched the world's first wristwatch "Diastar 1", which is the best-selling classic in the market.
1962: ETA of Switzerland has developed the first quartz electronic watch "Beta 2 1", which is very accurate. Instead of putting this achievement into production, they continued to produce mechanical movements.
1966: Girard-Perregaux launches the world's first high-frequency mechanical movement (36000vph). Most mechanical watches only have 18000 or 28800vph.
1969: Seiko launched the "Astron" series, which is the first quartz watch sold to consumers. Astrons does not produce much, but this is the beginning of quartz watches dominating Japan.
1969: When man landed on the moon, NASA chose Omega Speedmaster as the astronaut's watch, which was the first watch to land on the moon.
1969: Zhenli cooperated with Movado to launch "El Primero" in order to win the competition of automatic code watch winding.
1970: Hamilton released Pulsar, the first digital display electronic watch. When the button is pressed, the LED emits red light to display the number. It's convenient to see the time, but the battery consumes quickly.
1972; Longines and Seiko have introduced a new watch, which uses LCD digital display to display the time all the time, in sharp contrast to the LED that needs buttons.
1972: AP launched "Royal Oak", the first high-end steel shell sports watch, leading the trend.
1974: Paul Picot founded this company.
1976: Patek Philippe introduced the Nautilus watch.
1976: Citizen made the first solar watch.
1979: Vacheron Constantin introduced "Kallista", one of the most expensive watches in the world. The total weight of diamonds inlaid on it is 130 carats, which is worth about 9 million US dollars.
1979: Concord released Delirium, the thinnest watch in the world (1.98mm). Due to the continuous thin watch war, Delirium IV was released with an incredible thickness of 0.98 mm.. Thin, but not practical, because the watch will be bent by the wearer
1980: Hublot brand was founded.
1983: Although quartz watches are very popular, Gerd Lang started a mechanical watch company called Chronoswiss.
1983: Swiss SMH group founded swatch brand. It immediately drove away the cheap Japanese quartz watches and regained their market. A variety of sometimes even crazy styles brought immediate success, and the price of about $35 made people buy many watches instead of just one. In the collection market, some limited-edition Swatch watches even sell for hundreds or even thousands of Swiss francs.
1984: Fossil brand was founded with Dezhou as its production base. Fossil limited edition is very popular with collectors because of its anti-trend style and packaging.
The mid-1980s:
Mechanical watches began to recover, electronic watches gradually declined, and people began to pay attention to the real mechanical masterpieces brought about by the revival of traditional crafts.
1985: Swiss luxury goods company TAG Heuer and TAG Heuer merged to form TAG Heuer.
1985: IWC released the "Da Vinci" automatic perpetual calendar watch, which enjoys a high reputation so far.
1985: Citizen has developed the first diving watch "Aquqland" with depth meter.
1985: Athens released the Galileo galilei astronomical clock, which was recorded in the Guinness Book of Records. The table can show the positions of the sun, moon and stars, as well as sunrise, sunset, dusk, moon phase, moon rising, moon setting, solar eclipse and month date. It was created by Ludwig, the genius of Athens? Chslin designed and produced, and he will also develop two other complex watches in the future to complete his trilogy.
1986: PP has developed a perpetual calendar, which can calculate and calibrate the Gregorian calendar every 400 years.
1986: AP released the first automatic tourbillon watch.
1987: Alain Silberstein of Besancon founded his own watch company. His design is quite unique and the response is enthusiastic.
1988: Ruibao made the first adjustable watch.
1988: Ludwig Cheslin of Athens developed the Copernican planetarium, which can show the position of each planet relative to the sun and the earth. It can also show the rotation of the moon around the earth, and it also has a perpetual calendar function, which can show the month and the zodiac.
1988:Jean d' Eve and Seiko developed an automatic quartz watch. The built-in pendulum can charge the watch, so there is no need to replace the battery. Although there were still some problems in the system at that time, Seiko made technical improvements and started to use it again.
1989: The world's most complicated watch, PP Cal.89, was sold for $3.2 million (including commission and other expenses). It has 33 different functions and took 9 years to make.
1990: Daniel Roth established a watch brand named after him, and he also played an important role in the revival of Baoji.
199 1: junghans released "Mega 1", which is the first watch that can receive radio signals and synchronize with an atomic clock.
199 1: Frank Mueller brand was founded.
199 1: As the climax of Swatch's fanaticism, Kiki Picasso sold for 62,000 Swiss francs.
1992: Timex released "Indiglo", which can illuminate the whole panel evenly through backlight. This is the easiest timetable to see in the dark at that time. Today, you can find the same device on many watches from Timex to Omega.
1992: Athens released "Tellurium johannes kepler" to complete the trilogy. This watch can show the rotation of the earth as seen from the North Pole. It can also show which part of the earth can be illuminated by the sun, and can show the sunrise and sunset. In addition, it can also show the rotation of the moon around the earth and the eclipse.
1994: Seiko developed the "Kinetic" watch, which is obviously improved compared with the one they made in 1988. Now a similar movement has appeared in Swiss watches.
1994: a. Lange &; s？ The revival of the hne trademark quickly won a leading position in the field of watchmaking, and Swiss brands have always enjoyed a high reputation in this field.
1994: Roland Murphy founded his own watch brand after years of planning.
1995: As a sign that our life depends more and more on computers, Timex released the "data link" watch. This kind of watch can "read" information from the computer screen and record schedules, telephone numbers and so on.
1995: Xitiechen has developed a series of "eco-driven" optical dynamic watches. They are better than the famous Swiss designer J? The solar watch designed by rg Hysek looks much better, and it can run for at least 500 days when fully charged.
1996: Philip dufour published "Duality". The movement adopts double escapement design, which can improve the accuracy by balancing each other. The system was developed against tourbillon.
1996: Pamajoni brand was founded.
1996: radar development "Vision 1", made of diamond powder. Sapphire is still the hardest. Vision 1 is still an experimental model and has not been released to the public.
1997: PP released the "annual calendar", which can be run within one year without adjustment.
1999: A wristwatch with operating energy provided by the temperature difference between the wearer's wrist and the air is jointly developed by Seiko ("Hot Watch") and Xitiechen.
1999: Omega released coaxial movement. This movement developed by George Daniels has a brand-new escapement system with less friction, higher precision and less maintenance.
1999: Casio developed a watch with global positioning system (GPS).