WHAT makes the rhythmic tick in a watch? That is a question almost every little boy has asked, and perhaps quite a few little girls. Could you answer their question?

The tick is much more frequent than you may have realized. Did you know that a watch ticks an average of 18,000 times an hour? That is five times a second, 300 times a minute, 432,000 times a day—and about 13 million times a month!

Early Timepieces

Compared with other methods of keeping time, the watch is a relatively new device. Humans probably first kept time by observing the sun or by measuring the angle of shadows of trees. Eventually sundials were introduced. These instruments mark off time by measuring the shadows. But on a cloudy day, or at night, they leave man without his clock.

Obviously another type of timepiece was needed. Many early civilizations used a water clock or “clepsydra.” Although these varied, the principle was the same. Water or some other substance was permitted to flow from one vessel to another. The amount that flowed could be measured, and in this way the passing of time was marked off.

The introduction of a mechanical means to measure time was a real improvement. It seems that the first such timepieces appeared in Europe in the fourteenth century. Then, in about 1500, a locksmith in Nuremberg, Germany, invented a portable clock. However, it was so heavy that it had to be hung from a belt around the waist.

Besides being bulky, early watches were not very accurate. In fact, they had only an hour hand. But improvements were made, and eventually precision timepieces were produced. All of these early watches were handmade.

Then, about the middle of the last century, the principles of mass production were applied to watchmaking. Over the years refinements have been made in production techniques, so that watches are now produced that keep almost perfect time.

Watches can now be made that will fit into a dainty ornamental ring for a lady’s finger. The screws used in their manufacture are so tiny that thousands of them could be put in a thimble! Also, some of the holes in which the tiny pivots of the wheels operate are so small that a human hair will not pass through them!