6. The Chronograph, a combination of artistry, engineering and science
What came first, the hour or the hour hand? At the basis of some of the most elemental advances in technology lies time, the division of time, and the rhythm of time. It is often said that the most influential development of human technology was the sail, but this could only be in combination with practical navigation, itself only viable only by an understanding of astronomy. Indeed, the first modern chronograph was invented by French Louis Moinet in 1816, exclusively to work with astronomical equipment.
The chronograph is specifically the type of timepiece utilizing the sequenced rotations of three arms, defining a minute, an hour and twelve hours. A high degree of accuracy and prowess in fabrication is required, and this marked a point when engineering almost began to overlap into art. There certainly is something beautiful about the innards of a well-constructed clock, and the tools required to make it. It marks the acme of man’s understanding of the properties of the physical world, and the pinnacle of manufacturing technology in the age before electronics.