The development history of watches
Measurement of time was one of the needs of human beings. The ice-age hunters of Europe made marks on sticks and bones to count the days between the phases of the moon. In the more organized societies more precise time measurement was needed for religious purposes and social occasions. The Egyptians were the first to divide the day into hours as we do now. The obelisks, slender, pointing and four sided pillar like structures were built for this purpose. The moving shadows of these pillars helped the people to know time. The sun dial that came later was only an evolution of the ancient Egyptian obelisk. This could be carried from place to place and was perhaps the first portable devise for measuring time.
The making of the water clock was another development as time could be measured during night also. The water clocks gave way to the candle clocks which were wax candles with lines on them to mark the hour. In the fourteenth century large weight driven clocks appeared in many cities on the towers at city centre. Sandglasses were another devise that was used to measure time. The fifteenth century saw the birth of spring driven clocks and then pendulum clocks. The modern watches have evolved from these.
In the infancy of watch making they were very expensive and only the kings, queens and royalty generally speaking owned personal watches to measure time. But soon technology made watches available to all, especially with the invention of the quartz movement. When any thing is hand crafted it becomes art, so many ancient companies continued to produce hand crafted watches that are fabulously costly. The difference between a hand crafted watch and a mass produced watch is the same as that of a photograph and a painting. So the traditional watch makers started selling the hand crafted watches for the rich at hyped prices. So some watches like Vacheron Constantin, Omega, Rolex, Patek Philippe, Blancpain, Bulgari and many others became ultimate symbols of luxury.Manufacturers now present the near perfect clones of these handcrafted watches to the public at the fraction of the price of the original. Today illustrious watch comapny are sold by reliable portals like www.rolex-heavens.com
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