A timepiece is an instrument used for measuring time. A timepiece differs from a 'clock' in that it doesn't chime, and from a 'watch' in that a timepiece is designed to be stationary, perhaps mounted on a wall or sitting on a desk, though clocks and watches are specific forms of timepiece. The clepsydra as introduced to the Romans from the east around 158 BC by Seipio Nasica, and around 140 BC Ctesibius applied toothed wheels to them. Caesar reportedly discovered timepieces in Britain when he invaded in 55 BC. Alfred The Great of England used wax tapers as timepieces. The pendulum was applied to timepieces by Galileo around 1639, and in England the first pendulum timepiece was erected at St Paul's in Covent Garden by Richard Harris in 1641. Repeating timepieces were invented by Barlow in 1676, and the spiral pendulum spring by Robert Hooke in 1658. In 1905 the first timepiece actuated by radium was constructed. Research Timepiece
Abbreviations
General Information
Research Timepiece