Luxury of Time
“WHAT TIME IS it?” Now, don’t we all ask that by looking at our watch or clock? But beyond the numbers, how did our ancestors and people from the old days foretell time?
Prehistoric humans started predicting time by observing the stars, and changes in seasons which started the beginning of measuring to plan their activities like planting, harvesting, and celebration of feasts. Around 400 B.C., Greeks developed a water clock, which was used to measure the outflow
of water from a vessel to measure time. The Egyptians, on the other hand, developed a sundial but this was soon replaced by the shadow clock that measured time of the day by looking at the sun’s shadow
during the 8th century B.C. They used the theory of shorter hours for winter and longer hours for summer.
The Chinese, Romans, Babylonians, and Greeks also studied prediction of time. The ancient times also saw the invention of the hourglass.
Around the year 1300s, mechanical clocks used mainspring and balance wheels. Initially, the clock had no faces, hour, or minute but struck a bell. In the 1400s, the mechanical clock improved with the use of coiled springs. Between 1656-1657, Christiaan Huygens, a Dutch mathematician, invented the pendulum clock. This clock was said to be more accurate than the previous clocks. Galileo was also credited for inventing a pendulum clock in 1581.
In 1761, John Harrison succeeded in developing a clock that was accurate to use for navigation for those who embark on trips to the sea.
The advancement of foretelling time soon emerged in 1839, when the telegraph was invented
for instant transmission of time signals and the adoption of Greenwich, England, by twenty-five countries
in 1884 as the ‘prime meridian’ and the basis for telling time all over the world. It was also during this period that an inventor from Connecticut named Eli Terry developed the machines, patterns, and techniques to produce clock parts that are exactly alike and could be mass-produced, allowing for common people access to buy clocks.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the use of watches became a staple for both men and women, with women wearing wristwatches and the men often carrying pocket watches. In 1904, French watchmaker Louis Cartier developed the Santos wristwatch — the first wristwatch made for men —
after his friend, Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos Dumont, asked him to design a watch that could be used without taking the hands off the control during flights. The wristwatch gained popularity during World War I when soldiers found that glancing at a watch on their wrist was more convenient than fumbling through their pockets for a pocket watch on battlefields.
The advancement of telling time further increased in 1967 when an atomic clock which used oscillations of cesium-133 atoms to tell time was made. This was upgraded in 1999 when scientists developed the cesium fountain clock which is off by one second every 20 million years. This type of clock
is the most accurate in predicting time. - Alexa Villano
Watch It
So you bought the watch of your dreams, but do you know how to handle it with care? Here are some tips to care for it:
1. Make sure to clean it with a soft cloth once a month.
2. Some watches may be water-resistant, but it doesn’t mean you should wear it in the shower. If used on the beach or the pool, make sure to rinse the watch with fresh water and dry it.
3. To clean leather watch straps, put a dab of moisturizing hand soap on a soft cloth and wipe it on the straps, rinse, and dry thoroughly.
4. If your watch has metal and rubber straps, it is recommended to clean it with a soft brush to wipe off the dirt accumulated from the skin.
5. If the watch is damaged, go to the nearest watch repairman to have it done immediately. Run out of battery? You can ask the maker the specific battery for replacement. Remember to replace a dead battery within a two-month period. Otherwise, a dead battery may bleed and damage your watch.
Start. Stop. Reset.
A watch used in sporting events to measure a duration of time, the stopwatch traces its roots
to the first chronograph invented by Abraham Louis Breguet. Early chronographs, aside from recording time lapses through an ink pen on an index, also told time. In 1896, Swiss luxury timepiece company Tag Heuer invented the first stopwatch that measured time intervals in fragments equal to 1/5th of a second.
Filipino Time
It has often been said that Filipinos are late for meetings or parties because they don’t want to be the first guests entertained by the host. But where did this term emerge from and how did it come about?
There is no historical basis for the so-called Filipino Time. Some say this is traced back to the time
of the Spanish rule when the Encomendia system (landownership) was introduced to the natives. Filipinos back then were not encouraged to look further than what was happening on the very hour.
In his novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, Dr. Jose Rizal also mentioned the Spaniards’ late-coming habit. In page 39 of Noli, he wrote: “Linares (Spanish rival of main character Crisostomo Ibarra to Maria Clara’s heart) had not yet arrived, for being an important person, he must come
later than the others. There are people who are flattered that for each hour of delay because they have not yet arrived, they become more significant.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) launched the ‘Juan Time,’ which encourages the change of the Filipino Time mindset by promoting a nationwide use of only ‘one time.’ The Juan Time is now used through the help of AM radio stations as they are the “most precise” in determining time.
Wrist Takers
Here’s a list of celebs who know the value of a good timepiece and the brand of watch they trust:
1. Kris Aquino - Philip Stein
2. Gretchen Barretto - Baume and Mercier
3. Anne Curtis - Swatch
4. Toni Gonzaga - Rolex
