TIME

Time is one of the most used words and abused words in the English language. We as humans and parents. Since the beginning of our world and habitation of it. The first thing we do is wake up by an alarm of some sort. Be it by sun, a clock or some sort of an alarm or by some one. Our days are arranged around time, a clock, watch or some sort of time piece. Be it the sun or something on our wrist or on a wall in our home or place of work. Time is a thing or object that plays major roll in our lives from the time we put our feet on floor till the time we put our body back in that apprentice we call a bed..

We commute to our place of employment using time. We wake our selves up on time,, our children up at a certain time. We send our children to school and bed at a certain time. We get home from work at a general time depending on traffic. We cook meals with a timer of sorts. We allow our selves a given amount of time to accomplish a task. If that task is not accomplished on time, then we worry about the time it took to accomplish that task and will we get the other task we wish to be done on time.

In a store or mall we are so cautious of time we are discourteous to other shoppers if they are not realizing they are blocking our way, because they are reading labels or not sure what item they wish to buy. And we are loosing time..

When commuting we cut other people off because they are a little cautious in there driving habbits. We become very impatient and we are loosing time we think..! In that process we gain maybe one second. We change lanes to save time and the lane passes and we lose time. We cut others off in traffic to hopefully save time, and maybe we save 2 seconds. But we cost that other person 2 seconds. But we gained 2 seconds time??

Time has been measured in many ways through out the centuries since our beginnings. In cave man time it was with sun. When sun came up the hunter knew it was time to have something to eat or go hunting for food of some sort. When the sun went down it was time to go to bed and do the same thing the next day. They had no real concept of time. Except the sun and where it was in the sky.

Then some one saw they could light a candle and it would burn for a certain length of time. So much could be accomplished in the distance down the candle burned. I f the given amount of work was not accomplished every day, by the distance the candle burned then workers were penalized.

Then some bright individual discovered he could put gears and wheels together and use weights and a clock was born. But there was only one hand and it worked on a 4hour time and had to be wound by the watch at the end of his watch. Then some one discovered how to put on, an hour and minute hands and would run and keep time for 4hours again the watch had to be keep it wound. A few years later an individual discovered a way to make a spring and do away with the weights which could make clock run longer, and be more accurate. The clock could be placed any where there was space to set.

Then another bright individual discovered a balance wheel which made the clock more usable in different locations like aboard ship in a gimbale that rocked with the ship, always stayed level, and navigation was more accurate. Ships could go in a more accurate, line and cut days off of a voyage.

Over the years, time keepers have evolved through thought and trial and error, to the time keepers of today. Over a few centuries of time and those wonderful machines which most of us take for granted time keeping mechanism has evolved to what we use to keep time today. From a lot of gears and wheels and springs to a thing that is no bigger than the head of a pen or even smaller to keep time with.

There is a time keeper now that all you have to do is put a battery in and set to what you believe is currant time and at midnight this gadget will receive an electronic time signal and set it’s self to current time. Now, there is also a watch that you push a button and it speaks the time for none seeing persons.

Because of a lot of restrictions that were placed on the Horological trade, in Europeam countries. Number of years as an apprentice watch or clock maker, and the jelouces of the master watch or clock maker there were many restriction placed on the abilities of the apprentice. Those individuals migrated to America and set up shop because of encouragement and the knowledge they brought with them. That knowledge was passed down. The children learned from father and some of those children became very famous through out the world. Such as Seth Thomas, Gillbert, Sessions, and many others. With some maintaince, even at that time there was a built in obsolesance of 10 years and most or at least a very large number, (after close to 100 to 200 years )many of those clocks are still working to this day.

But unfortunately the trade is slowly dying. Where there used to be in the 70’s 44 schools and even was taught in colleges and Universities Then almost all of those closed because of lack of enrolment. In the last 10 to 15 years there now 11 schools and are in different parts of the US. From Seattle, Wash. To Paris Texas, to New Jersey, and the Canadian border. Most of these schools offer classes from 9 months to 3000 hours or 3 years of teaching. Classes are small from 4 to 8 individuals. So the teachers are able gives proper time to each student for greater learning sessions. Some of these schools offer jewelry making as well as watch and clock repair. There are also classes for learning electronic watch repair. All are taught by Swiss trained master watch and clock makers. Some of these schools have branches in Europe.

This is the ramblings of an old watch and clock maker who has been fascinated with the trade for over 35 years and if you are as interested as I have always been there is a lot of more information on Google and Yahoo and all sort of SEO’s. Several of these schools offer scholarships or you take the class free but you have to furnish own room and board.

Enough ramblings form an old watch and clock maker. There is so much to learn about time keeping pieces be it wrist watches, wall clocks, floor clocks, mantel clocks. that I could probably write a book. But there is so many books available in electronic and literary world that I would be duplicating something that is already done. But if you wish I would be delighted to help. Just give me a subject or make or description of clock and I will look it up or from experience tell you about that clock.

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