Speaker - John Callin; Chairman - Januarys Commercial - Time pieces

John told me he had been collecting 17th & 18th century clocks all his life. His Father was an engineer. He had a workshop where he made & replaced parts.

Before clocks, in the cavemen years, they used to tell the time by using shadows and by the sun & the stars at night. They had no need for clocks. Then monks needed to know the time they spent at prayers and meditation, so hour glasses full of sand were used. In 600BC. the 24hr. day started with the Babylonians. ( in answer to a question, John unfortunately did not have time to tell us why it became a 24hr. day.)

Sundials went back to 1500BC.

It wasn't until the 13th. century that real clocks as we know them started to be handmade by blacksmiths! In a blacksmiths forge with no electricity, dirty, dusty, yet with special hand made tools had to be so precise to tell the time accurately.

These were mainly public clocks seen on churches. John showed us a Lantern clock, made by