In: Root » Arts and entertainment » Fashion and jewlery
"Time is God's way of keeping everything from happening at once." Time - the measure against which everything else is measured. From the earliest Stone Ages when Man looked up at the heavens as day changed to night and back to day again, he has been cognizant of the passage of time. The earliest timepieces were sundials, telling time by the lengths of shadows cast by the overhead sun. Then came the water clocks and hourglasses. Several centuries later, mechanized clocks made heir appearance in the 15th century. A hundred odd years later, some of the smaller clocks began to be worn around the neck or fastened to clothing, thereby starting the use of watches. With the introduction of waistcoats by King Charles II of England, pocket watches gained popularity. The timekeeping mechanism involved a verge escapement which drove a foliot (soon replaced with a balance wheel), a dumbbell shaped bar with weights on the ends, to oscillate back and forth. Accuracy improved with the addition of the balance spring to the balance wheel. During the late 1700s, accurate chronometers to determine longitude were introduced. The 1800s saw the introduction of the lever escarpment and mass production. In 1904, Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos Dumont asked Louis Cartier to come up with a watch that would allow him to keep both hands free while flying. Thus, the wristwatch was born. The 1950s s aw the emergence of the first electric watch, where the balance wheel was powered by a solenoid. Then in 1969, the quartz resonator replaced the balance wheel and considerably improved accuracy. In spite of the numerous inexpensive and accurate quartz watches available today, there exists a considerable market for expensive, detailed, fine watches, both mechanical and quartz-powered. Some of the more famous names in fine watches today are mentioned below in alphabetical order: 1 . A Lange & Sohne - German brand founded in 1845. Sells mechanical models only. 2 . Audemars Piguet - Swiss brand started in 1875. Family-owned. 3 . Baume & Mercier - Swiss company started in 1830. Famous for sports models. 4 . Bell & Ross - New Swiss company started in 1992. 5 . Blancpain - Swiss manufacturer started in 1735. Produces fewer than 10,000 watches a year. 6 . Breguet - Swiss watchmaker since 1775. Pioneered the tourbillon to counter effect of gravity. 7 . Breitling - Swiss watchmaker since 1884. Famous for aviation chronometers. 8 . Cartier - French manufacturer, founded 1847. 9 . Chanel - French luxury brand, founded 1909. 10. Chopard - Swiss brand started in 1860. 11. Dior - French luxury brand started in 1946. 12. Girard-Perregaux - Swiss manufacturer since 1791. 13. Hublot - New Swiss enterprise founded in 1980. 14. IWC - International Watch Company, founded in Switzerland in 1860. 15. Jacquet Droz - Swiss watchmaker, famous for early automated dolls. 16. Jaeger-LeCoultre - Swiss manufacturer since 1833. 17. Mont Blanc - German manufacturer famous for its pens. 18. Movado - Swiss company whose name is Esperanto for "movement", founded in 1881. 19. Omega - Started in 1848 in Switzerland; first watch on the Moon in 1969. 20. Panerai - Italian brand founded in 1860. 21. Parmigiani - Swiss luxury brand founded in 1975. 22. Patek Philippe - Geneva-based Swiss watchmaker since 1839. 23. Piaget - Swiss luxury watchmakers and jewellers, founded in 1874. 24. Rolex - Swiss manufacturer from 1908; largest single luxury watch brand. 25. Tag Heuer - Swiss manufacturer from 1860; famous for its sports watches. 26. Vacheron Constantin -Founded in Switzerland in 1755; oldest watchmaker in the world with an uninterrupted history. 27. Zenith - Swiss manufacturer since 1865. For more information on Dallas watch buyer, visit our website
Summary:
Time - the measure against which everything else is measured. From the earliest Stone Ages when Man looked up at the heavens as day changed to night and back to day again, he has been cognizant of the passage of time.
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