The analogue or clockwork clock is the culmination of many centuries of timepiece development. The earliest form of clock was the sundial, first developed and used in 3500 BC in the middle east.
In the 1st Century AD the Romans developed a more accurate timepiece called the water clock, this resembled modern clocks only to the extent that it had a pointer which moved across the face.
It was not until the 1300's that clock making technology started to develop, and for the next 400 years clock making took on the shape of modern timepieces, the use of jewels to aid precision first appeared in 1704.
By 1920 the world had seen the first battery driven clock, the first electric clock and the adoption of Greenwich Mean Time as the international standard.
The clock is powered by energy stored in a coiled spring, this has to be wound by the user via a key. As the spring slowly unwinds a barrel is turned, this in turn rotates a gear train where slow turning large cogs operate smaller faster cogs. These cogs are connected to the hands via the arbor which protrudes through the centre of the clock face.
The timing is achieved via a device called an `oscillator', a weight which is powered from the gears. The escapement is a device which converts the rotary motion of the cogs into a linear motion required to operate the oscillator.
