History of Time Measurement

Time is structured by church bells – prayer times (hours) organize the day. Time is religiously connoted, cyclical and communal. No precise time measurement needed.

First public tower clocks in cities. Time becomes more important for trade and crafts. Time callers ("night watchmen") announce the hour on the streets. Time becomes publicly visible.

More accurate time measurement through pendulum (Huygens, 1656). Pocket watches become portable – time becomes individualized and a status symbol. Beginning of "clock time" in everyday life.

Railway requires uniform time. Creation of time zones (1884). Telegraphic time transmission begins. Synchronization becomes a necessity for industrial society.

First radio time signals (from 1910s). The famous "Tut-Tut-Tut" signal. Precise time comes into the living room. Mass synchronization of society.

In Germany: 0118 for "time announcement". First spoken by announcers, later automated. Millions of calls daily – time becomes a service.

Atomic clocks enable accuracy in the nanosecond range. Radio clocks synchronize automatically (DCF77 since 1973). Time becomes absolutely precise and invisibly omnipresent.

Network Time Protocol synchronizes computers worldwide. GPS satellites distribute atomic clock time globally. Time becomes the invisible infrastructure of digital life.

Everyone carries precise, automatically synchronized time with them. Timestamps everywhere: messages, posts, transactions. Time is omnipresent, invisible and absolute. We live in permanent time awareness.