Time Telling Through the Ages


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(4.1 stars; 8 reviews)

A history of timekeeping from the stone age through to American mass production, covering timepieces from the sundial and water clock through the key inventions driving advances in the accuracy of clocks and watches in both Europe and America. The book was conceived and sponsored by the Ingersoll Family as a celebration of their then 25 years of watchmaking. - Summary by Chris Cartwright

Chapters

Select a chapter to play

Chapter i, The Man Animal and Nature's Timepieces 17:51 Read by Claudia Salto
Chapter ii, The Land Between the Rivers 26:39 Read by Linda Johnson
Chapter iii, How Man Began to Model After Nature 23:16 Read by Linda Johnson
Chapter iv, Telling Time by the "Water Thief" 16:17 Read by Linda Johnson
Chapter v, How Father Time Got his Hour Glass 12:21 Read by Linda Johnson
Chapter vi, The Clocks Which Named Themselves 19:24 Read by tommack
Chapter vii, The Modern Clock and Its Creators 30:25 Read by realisticspeakers
Chapter viii, The Watch That Was Hatched From The Nuremburg Egg 19:16 Read by James K. White
Chapter ix, How a Mechanical Toy Became a Scientific Time Piece 20:04 Read by tommack
Chapter x, The "Worshipful Company" and English Watchmaking 19:33 Read by garybclayton
Chapter xi, What Happened in France and Switzerland 26:57 Read by Kristine Bekere
Chapter xii, How an American Industry Came on Horseback 22:13 Read by Kristine Bekere
Chapter xiii, America Learns to Make Watches 25:55 Read by Linda Johnson
Chapter xiv, Checkered History 13:33 Read by Linda Johnson
Chapter xv, "The Watch That Wound Forever" 20:34 Read by Linda Johnson
Chapter xvi, "The Watch That Made The Dollar Famous" 16:19 Read by Linda Johnson
Chapter xvii, Putting Fifty Million Watches Into Service 20:30 Read by realisticspeakers
Chapter xviii, The End of the Journey 21:04 Read by realisticspeakers
Appendix A, How it Works 11:15 Read by Kristine Bekere

Reviews

Another Signpost For The Revolution?


(3.5 stars)

A broad history of timekeeping from sundials to pocket watches. Of course, the book was commissioned by an American clock maker, so when the US started to make clocks, the focus switched to North America. Still, it was pretty interesting, particularly the vain attempts of the British government to make the colonists buy only British clocks. Who knew?