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History of watches

Watches evolved from portable spring driven clocks, which first in the 15th century. Portable timepieces had been made feasible by the invention from the mainspring. Even though some sources erroneously credit Nuremberg clockmaker Peter Henlein (or Henle or Hele) with inventing the mainspring about 1511, many references to 'clocks with out weights' and two surviving examples show that spring powered clocks appeared within the 15th century. Henlein is also often credited with constructing the very first pocketwatches, mostly due to a passage by Johann Cochlaus in 1511.

Peter Hele, nonetheless a young man, fashions works which even the most learned mathematicians admire. He shapes many-wheeled clocks out of little bits of iron, which run and chime the hours without weights for forty hours, whether or not carried at the breast or in a handbag

and because he was popularized in a 19th century novel. However, numerous German clockmakers had been creating miniature timepieces throughout this period, and there's no evidence Henlein was the first. Also, watches weren't widely worn in pockets till the 17th century.

The first timepieces to become worn, produced in 16th century Europe, had been transitional in size in between clocks and watches. These 'clock-watches' were fastened to clothing or worn on a chain about the neck. They were heavy drum shaped cylindrical brass boxes a number of inches in diameter, engraved and ornamented. They had only an hour hand. The face was not covered with glass, but usually had a hinged brass cover, often decoratively pierced with grillwork so the time could be read without opening. The movement was made of iron or steel and held together with tapered pins and wedges, until screws began to be utilized following 1550. Numerous from the movements included striking or alarm mechanisms. They generally had to become wound twice each day. How psychic!