Clocks are one of the oldest human inventions. Although the origins of the mechanical clock are not known, church records and early references to mechanical clocks indicate that such mechanisms were first set up in monasteries and other places of worship. Early monks must have devised an alarum to help them gather for their fixed hour prayer by sounding a bell automatically.

“The word ‘clock’ in itself sustains this theory,” says Roderick Mizzi, from Mizzi Clocks.

“In fact the word ‘clock’ is derived from the Latin ‘clocca’ and other equivalents in the Saxon, French and Teutonic languages, all signifying a bell. Thus early clock mechanism must have featured a bell but possibly not a dial.”

An important milestone in the development of clocks was the pendulum.

“Galileo and others made various observations which eventually led Dutch mathematician and natural philosopher Christiaan Huygens, in 1673, to publish a study on the application of pendulums to clocks,” says Mizzi.

“This development had both a technical and visual impact. The pendulum clock proved to be more accurate than earlier clocks and it also established the common features that we now associate with clocks, namely the pendulum itself, the dial on the front with a pointer, the weights and eventually the clock cases for these mechanisms.

“Early pendulum clocks were installed in towers but eventually smaller domestic versions were also developed. Portable clocks came about as a result of the invention of the mainspring at the end of the 15th century. In the early 20th century the development of the quartz clock was another important development that led to enhanced accuracy.”