The measurement of time was one of man's earliest obsessions, and the desire to create ever greater precision in timekeeping has inspired generations in the field of mathematics and science. Equally, each advance has produced accompanying works of great craftsmanship that have cloaked objects of sober function with a mantle of outstanding beauty. Eric Bruton traces the path of this development from the simple shepard's dial made of clay, through the heavy iron Gothic turret clocks, and the rush of horological activity that followed the invention of the pendulum by Christian Huygens in the mid -- seventeenth century, to the perfection of the escapement led to developments that form the basic principles of the complex electronic circuitry of our modern clocks and watches. Accompanying this history are the inspiring stories of the men who revolutionized principles of timekeeping in their day, such as Sully, Le Roy, Breguet, Tompion, and Harrison.

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the need for accurate navigation and mapping was a major concern of statesmen, as well as astronomers and mathematicians, mechanics and sailors. Huge sums of prize money from governments eager to gain control of the seas were offered to the creator of such a device. The problem seemed simple enough - to make a clock or watch go accurately on a tossing merchantman or man-of-war -- but it took a long time and enormous effort until a solution, the marine chronometer, was found. Combining specially commissioned line drawings, magnificent color illustrations, and a text that is both lucid and authoritative, this book offers the reader a wonderful catalogue of man's achievement in the fields of science and art.