Britannica Clockworks

Learn about how mankind has kept track of time throughout history.  Here you'll learn the workings and background of the sundial, clepsydra, astrolabe, candle clock, sandglass, weight-driven clock, spring-driven clock, pendulum clock, quartz watch and cesium atomic clock.

Timekeeping has been both a lens through which humanity has observed the heavens and a mirror reflecting the progress of science and civilization. At the dawn of the new millennium, the instruments that divide and measure the days on Earth have brought us to a deeper understanding of how it all began.