A clock that winds a watch?

In the 1800's Abraham-Louis Breguet a famous horologist designed a clock that set the owner's pocket watch to time at night. He called it a pendules sympathiques.

In the top of the clock is a holder for a special pocket watch that was worn during the day. Once the watch was placed in the holder, at least an hour later, it would be set exactly to the time with the clock. His first models set the minute hand of the watch on the hour. This idea was used later in the first public time services, which used an electric current to centralize the minute hands of clocks in public places. In later versions of Breguet's pendules sympathiques also wound the watch and calculated how much it had lost or gained and altered the regulator accordingly to adjust it. Breguet's invention showed the primary principal of automation. This was ingenious for this period of time. When Breguet, a pioneer in design, developed new inventions it paved the way for others to expand on them with better and more advanced devices.

In 1814 the Prince Regent of England bought one, which is now in the Royal Collection.

Stonehenge as a clock?

Ever thought of Stonehenge as a clock? Well, archaeologists and astronomers think its a time service from the Stone Age. Stonehenge represented the passage of time. Studying the placement of the stones it was found they were indicators of the different positions of the sun and moon to the earth.


Three successive Stonehenges have been identified on the same site. All have significant astronomical alignments. The odds against the stones of the Stonehenges having been erected at random are ten million to one.


Stonehenge was set up with two stones as an entrance and a third as the heel stone. Stonehenge is orientated so that the setting of the sun at the winter solstice (shortest day) is seen through the great central trilithon and in the opposite direction, the sun rises over the heel stone at the summer solstice (longest day).

Scientists have learned so much more about the alignment of the stones using a computer. But it is beyond comprehension that something so complex and precise could be erected in the Stone Age.