Antiquity [edit | Edit]
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Already in antiquity, man divided his daily routine by observing the stars of the sun and the moon. The rise and fall of the sun and its highest level at noon were the people marked moments, the wandering shade could be divided by simple markers the time. In ancient Egypt, the shadow clock was developed from this. The days were divided into a certain number of seasonal hours, the length of which, however, changed steadily over the course of the seasons. At least since the Middle Kingdom diagonal star clocks were in use, whose hour division was based on movements of constellations and was aligned on the equal hour principle. Coffin texts of the respective epoch can be seen that the diagonal star clocks according to Egyptian mythology should help the deceased in their celestial ascension.
Since the 16th century BC Chr., The use of the water clock in ancient Egypt is known. The official Amenemhet invented in the reign of Amenhotep I. a water meter with improved timing. Water clocks consisted of a vessel into which water either came in or out. At the water level one could read the time independently of the daylight and in uniform time units. Water clocks thus allowed the use of even, equals hours, which were used in modified form in Babylonia, for example, as Danna. Later on the water clocks were also used with gear wheels connected swimmers, which allowed a time display on dials. In Greece, these watches were used to limit speaking time in court. The saying "The time has expired" can be traced back to it.
The technique of sundials and water clocks was adopted by the Romans and spread in the Roman Empire. In Trier, the Roman Augusta Treverorum, the foundations of a tower were discovered in 1913, which should have been almost identical to the tower of the winds, a combined sun and water clock in Athens. It can be assumed that these techniques were known in our latitudes at the latest at the time of the Germanic provinces of Rome, even though knowledge was lost for centuries with the decline of the Roman Empire.
There followed a heyday of the sciences in Islamic countries. Arabs and Moors researched in various fields and performed great in mathematics, timekeeping, and astronomy. Magnificent water clocks, which were equipped with complicated figurative machines, are known from the Arab world. An impressive example is the elephant clock of al-Jazari, another the water meter with automatons, which Charlemagne got in 807 by the caliph Harun Ar-Rashīd. In addition to the water clocks, the astrolabe, an originally Greek instrument for determining star points and time, was further developed. The astrolabes found their way back to Europe, and slowly, especially in monasteries, the scientific foundations for independent production emerged. At many medieval Monumentaluhren such Astrolabien are to be found.

Replica of a clock tower

Astronomical Clock at Rathaus Heilbronn

Anhängeuhr, signed by Charles Bobinet, Paris circa 1650