A Stitch In Time

By Dana Cohen-Sprott

Measuring time dates back to the beginning of civilization when man's best clocks were the sun, the moon and the sky. Even today, we still test the accuracy of our clocks and watches by the sun.

We owe the early Babylonian priests a debt of gratitude, as they were the first to measure time. Without the help of telescopes, these amazing astronomers charted the course of the moon, measuring the order of the changing phases. They noted the seasons and divided them into four based on the sun's position and then divided the seasons into 12 parts.

They developed 12 zodiac constellations, or groups of stars, and each of the months was divided into 30 days (over the next 1,000 years this would be fine tuned with the Julian calendar, which added five days). They divided the day and the night each into 12 hours, the hour into 60 minutes and the minute into 60 seconds. Thousands of years later this still exists. Throughout time, clock technology continued to grow and watches that had to be wound were handmade and only worn by affluent members of society.

Throughout the 1700s, watch technology continued to develop. John Harrison made the Marine Chronograph in 1761, which was so accurate it was used to measure longitude during sea voyages. More modern methods like using jewels as bearings were also developed during this time. Self-winding watches began to be produced in the last quarter of the century, and as the 1800s were ushered in, the pocket chronometer became a readily available and accurate watch.

Watchmaking was mechanized by Eli Terry in the early 1800s using patterns from clock parts. This was a huge breakthrough and resulted in a subsequent drop in price. Throughout the 1800s, improved technology and better steel works led to more precise watches, ensuring the accuracy of a timepiece over long periods.

In the late 1800s, many of the international watch brands opened their doors. Most watch companies started in Europe, oftentimes in Switzerland, then relocated to the United States. One of the oldest and most well-known watch companies in the world, Tissot, started in 1853 in Switzerland. Tissot's mission was to offer the general public a range of high-quality timepieces at an affordable price.

From the period of 1860 to 1915, many noteworthy innovations and events took place in the history of time and watches. In 1868, Patek Philippe produced the first wristwatch. In 1871 Aaros Dennison of International Watch Company (IWC) invented the waterproof case. Joseph Bulova moved from Bohemia to New York City in 1875 and started Bulova watches, which is still a leading watch manufacturer today. In 1888, Cartier produced the first ladies' wristwatch with diamond and gold bracelets and in 1902, the first Omega wristwatch was produced. Longines started watch production in 1910, while household names like Santos-Dumont and Citizen began business in 1911.

The 20th century brought tremendous technological innovations. The first quartz clock, accurate to within 1-2 thousandths of a second per day, was developed in 1928 by W.A. Marrison of Bell Laboratories. Quartz technology was subsequently adapted for use in wristwatches. In 1952, battery-powered watches became available and very popular. The atomic clock proved to be a breakthrough — it was and still is void of any errors. During the 1970s, electronic watches with LCD and LED displays were extremely popular as they were highly functional and very inexpensive. Improvements and innovations also centered on the quartz movement, improving batteries and the new atomic watches. By 1998, keeping time was more popular than ever with about 500,000,000 watches sold each year.

The 21st century has brought the most innovative period for telling time. The new watches incorporate cutting-edge technologies and materials that lead to incredible innovations like Tissot's touch-screen watches (the T-Touch), Citizen's solar-powered Eco-Drive watches and Seiko's Titanium watches.

You can spend days shopping in St. Maarten/St. Martin and not visit the same store twice! So much to buy - so little time... visit our Shopping Guide and get full details about each merchant before you go. Print our shopping maps and take them with you.