A brief history of watchmaking from the 14th century to the present day.

A journey through the socio-economic and technological events in Europe that have influenced the progress of watchmaking.

The rise of the mechanical clock 

There is no evidence of who invented the mechanical clock or exactly when it first appeared. The earliest literary reference to a mechanical clock is reported by Dante Alighieri in his Divina Commedia (written between 1308 and 1321), where the poet mentions in the Canto X of the Paradise a clock made of gear wheels and t…