A revolution in clock technology in England during the 1660s allowed people to measure time more accurately, attend to it more minutely, and possess it more privately than previously imaginable. In "Telling Time," Stuart Sherman argues that innovations in prose emerged simultaneously with this technological breakthrough, enabling authors to recount the new kind of time by which England was learning to live and work.
Through brilliant readings of Samuel Pepys's diary, Joseph Addison and Richard Steele's daily "Spectator," the travel writings of Samuel Johnson and James Boswell, and the novels of Daniel Defoe and Frances Burney, Sherman traces the development of a new way of counting time in prose--the diurnal structure of consecutively dated installments--within the cultural context of the daily institutions which gave it form and motion. "Telling Time" is not only a major accomplishment for seventeenth- and eighteenth-century literary studies, but it also makes important contributions to current discourse in cultural studies.

The art of tracking time has been evidenced for over 300 years in the Black Forest area of Germany. Cuckoo and singing bird clocks, early glass bell, trumpeter, Jockele, animation, and picture frame clocks all have in the Black Forest area by skilled clockmakers who have transformed the function of time into a true form of art through their clocks. Rick Ortenburger's important new study traces the development of this fascinating Black Forest clock industry between about 1700 and 1930. He provides useful information that will meet the collectors' need and increase the appreciation of the beautiful craft these clocks represent. Photographs in color and black and white of 600 different examples make the industry's evolution from early cottage farm houses to the later development of factories come to life.

The public spaces and buildings of the United States are home to many thousands of timepieces--bells, time balls, and clock faces--that tower over urban streets, peek out from lobbies, and gleam in store windows. And in the streets and squares beneath them, men, women, and children wear wristwatches of all kinds. Americans have decorated their homes with clocks and included them in their poetry, sermons, stories, and songs. And as political instruments, social tools, and cultural symbols, these personal and public timekeepers have enjoyed a broad currency in art, life, and culture. In Marking Modern Times, Alexis McCrossen relates how the American preoccupation with time led people from across social classes to acquire watches and clocks. While noting the difficulties in regulating and synchronizing so many timepieces, McCrossen expands our understanding of the development of modern time discipline, delving into the ways we have standardized time and describing how timekeepers have served as political, social, and cultural tools in a society that doesn't merely value time but regards access to time as a natural-born right, a privilege of being an American.

This book tackles the history of the Swiss watch industry in a global perspective: it gives particular attention to rival nations such as the United Kingdom, the USA and Japan. The author demonstrates how Swiss watchmakers succeeded in facing various challenges: the industrialization of production at the end of the 19th century, the delocalization of production in the interwar years and globalization since the 1960's. These challenges helped Switzerland to maintain and strengthen its position as a leader on the world market. This study shows how innovation and new technologies, the industrial policy of the Swiss authorities, the industrial district organization and the relations with trade unions explain the worldwide success of the Swiss watch industry.

Since the 13th century, a few special public clocks have included the movement of the sun, moon, earth and other planets, and from those early days Jacks were devised as human figures which actually "struck" the hours. Soon thereafter, automata appeared as mechanical figures that performed many and various acts, such as the four knights on horseback who joust on the hour at the Wells Cathedral in England. Over 300 clocks, for buildings or tabletops, which do far more than tell time, are presented here with concise historical explanations, detailed drawings, and clear color photography. 22 chapters examine the amazing mystery, novelty, and fantasy clocks that display magical acts, appear to require no power to drive them, or have no apparent connection between the movement and the hands. Famous makers in England, Germany, France, and Switzerland created these special clocks which became treasures of royalty throughout Europe and Asia, particularly in Chinese courts. Clocks with mysterious, novel, and fantastic features continue to be made up to the present for retailers such as Asprey and Cartier. For over 700 years these amazing clocks have delighted and challenged all who witness their makers' ingenuity.

The skeleton clock probably is the most fascinating of all clocks. It displays, by means of its fretted-out frame and lack of any protective case other than a glass dome, its inner-most workings. Therefore, this type of clock attracted the attention of some of the finest makers, particularly those working in France from circa 1760-1860 as it enabled them to display their skills so completely. It was for the same reason that it was popular with their wealthy clients, who could show off their latest acquisitions so perfectly. A typical example of this is an amazing clock made by Sarton for the Duke of Lorraine, the dial of which swings to and fro so that wherever you are sitting in the room you can see it clearly. Other examples are the glass-plated clocks which apparently have no frame and often go for six months at a single winding, and clocks which show not only the time but also such things as day, date, month, moons, age and phases, sunrise and sunset, the time in other world locations, and even the equation of time(i.e. the difference between the sun's and our time). Many of these are more than clocks-they are great works of art. Numerous examples, including the products of countries such as France, Holland, Austria, and America are included and fully illustrated, frequently in color, in this book. There is a chapter on modern skeleton clocks that shows that fine clockmaking still is very much alive and well. The fascinating information on skeleton clocks made in America is the first full account to be published in over a decade.

CHRONOMETERS - Marine and pocket chronometers, pocket watches with tourbillons or carousels form, in the large family of clocks, a small group of very precisely running timepieces with little sensitivity to external influences, such as variations in temperature. In the text, the author takes up the fascinating development and history of the chronometer, portrays the most important manufactures in short biographies, and reports on the great voyages of discovery in the 18th Century that proved the utility of the chronometer as a navigational instrument. The illustration section, divided into five sections on the basis of historical and technical standpoints, portays some 350 items in the antique trade and at auctions or seen in private collections, with special emphasis placed on illustrations of their movements.