Facts about watches for kids. Interesting facts about wristwatches: we bet you didn't know this? Listen to the poem "Cuckoo Clock"

Watches are an indispensable part of human life, without which it is almost impossible to imagine existence in the modern world, even if we do not take into account the abundant presence of all kinds of technologies. Most people know very little about watches: for some, it's just an accessory with a useful function, and for some, it's just a must-have everyday item.

By type and type of watch, it is customary to choose based on plans for their future purpose, by brand and cost - from social status, as well as individual tastes, but when it comes to functional qualities, people almost never can understand what to build on when choosing a potential purchase. Any information about such an immutable thing (both historical and practical), for each person, will undoubtedly be useful.

The oldest clock in the history of mankind was discovered in Egypt and was solar.

Officially, they are the most expensive and high-quality in the world. In addition, the vast majority of Swiss watches always have their own, elegant design, which always distinguishes them from fakes. The brand of this production is used at the Olympic Games, fixing the time and records of athletes.

The time of the most accurate atomic clock on the planet has a micro finest error in operation.

According to various ratings, CES electric watches are recognized as the most high-tech in the world. Given the diversity of the aesthetic preferences of each person and the transience of technology development, the first place in this rating may vary, however, this brand was recognized as the best according to the results of summarizing the results of 2016.

There is such a type of clock as water. The principle of their work is remotely similar to the sundial, they were used in ancient times, and in the present time there are no analogues left.

Used in ancient China to tell time fiery clock. Later, something similar appeared in Europe, but with a different principle: they began to use candles on which marks were applied. As the candle burned, the elapsed time was determined, measured in units of these very marks.

They were named in this way long after creation. Their distinguishing features are usually increased strength, water resistance and resistance to increased loads. Modern models often have built-in heart rate monitors, stopwatches and other functions.

A mechanical watch has four main elements, and if you remove one of these parts, the operation of the device will be useless. Namely, they consist of: a spring or a weight that serves as the engine of the device, a wheel with uniform toothed recesses for the main operation of the mechanism, a regulator that ensures uniform operation and a distributor - the basis for starting the watch.

The principle of operation of quartz watches is directly related to the material of the same name - quartz.

In some large cities on the streets you can meet flower clock, created both to tell the time and to give a pleasant impression to foreigners and locals. As a rule, such watches have the simplest mechanism located underground, they are made in large dimensions and real, fresh flowers are used as a decoration, in the form of a circle, numbers and decorating details.

1. Scientists have proven that the human biological clock does not meet generally accepted standards. The experiment looked like this: two scientists voluntarily went to live in an equipped cave, without access to clocks and sunlight. After a couple of weeks, the biological rhythm of their lives identically went astray from the usual, which was documented.
2. A watch is the only accessory that is considered absolutely universal. It is customary to wear wristwatches regardless of gender, age, social status and other factors.
3. Almost every so-called fashion house releases its own collection of watches with individual designs depending on the show. Carry out the work of creating such copies, as a rule, Swiss workshops and factories.
4. In creating women's watch models, attention is paid not so much to the functional part as to external aesthetic beauty.
5. The official name for wall clocks of a simplified type, with a pendulum and usually large sizes, is clocks.
6. Sometimes, on watches with Roman symbols, instead of the usual and correct spelling of the four “IV”, the following symbol can be found: “IIII”.
7. The first commercial for a clockwork showing the passage of time was released in the United States.
8. A minute in medieval times was denoted by the concept of "moment".
9. In China, for a long time and still there is one, single time zone that operates throughout the country. Thus, regardless of external changes in nature and transitions of solar illumination, the inhabitants of each city in China live at the same time.
10. In the past, only one hand was used in the movement of all watches, moving along more precisely marked markings as smaller units of time.
11. In advertising posters, photographs and videotapes, the clocks generally show the same time for the reason that the arrows do not obscure the logo of the advertised product.

Many people try to live according to a schedule without thinking about how many interesting facts are related to time. Let's consider them in more detail.

The error of atomic clocks is 1 second for 6 million years.

The duration of one day on Mars is 24 hours 39 minutes 35 seconds. According to this indicator, the planet is similar to the Earth.

People living in the city of Para (Brazil) check the time not on the radio or TV, but on the rain. Surprisingly, here it always rains at the same time.

If you dig a hole to the very center of our planet and throw a book into it, it will fly for 42 minutes.

Another interesting fact about time is that no one knows why the year is divided into twelve months. Such a division does not correspond to the solar or lunar calendar. However, there is an opinion that this principle is based on the Babylonian counting system.

Few people know, but in extreme situations, time can seriously slow down. For example, this can happen during an accident or skydiving. This is due to the fact that the brain begins to process information at an accelerated rate, remembering as many details as possible.

Every couple of minutes we take more photographs than all of humanity in the 19th century.

The clock moves clockwise - from left to right, because the shadow of the sundial also moves in this direction.

Thailand uses several time keeping systems. The first is classical (24-hour); the second is 6 hours. Thus, the inhabitants of the country divide the day into 4 periods of 6 hours.

Despite the fact that Novosibirsk and Delhi are located almost on the same longitude, the time difference in the cities is 1.5 hours. This is due to the fact that India has an unusual standard time.

In the Middle Ages, people used the concept of "moment" to determine time intervals. It was considered that it is equal to 1.5 minutes.

Considering interesting facts about time, it is worth noting that there are 31.5 million seconds in one year.

If we lay down the history of our planet in 24 hours, then the appearance of man will take place at 23-59.

Interesting video facts about time:

1. The first wristwatch was created at the beginning of the 19th century for Eugene Beauharnais, but at that time the idea was not appreciated. At the end of the 19th century, due to the inconvenience of using pocket watches in combat conditions, the military began to wear watches on the wrist (the so-called trench watches), and wristwatches received final recognition only at the beginning of the 20th century. Nowadays they are also used as an accessory due to the large spread of mobile phones.

2. If you take a ticking watch in your teeth and plug your ears, the ticking will turn into strong, heavy blows - it will intensify so much.

3. More than 20 people are needed to make wristwatches

4. As a rule, most operations for the manufacture of watch parts are carried out in Switzerland using automated equipment and modern CNC machines. Only a few manufacturers that create products worth tens of thousands of dollars or more allow themselves to manually assemble mechanisms, and even more so - refinement and polishing of each watch detail by hand.

5. The history of the Tissot brand dates back to 1853, when father and son Tissot founded a watch company in Le Locle, Switzerland. It was a small workshop in which the owners themselves worked. The increase in production occurred after a large order for pocket watches from the Russian Imperial Court for Russian officers. Later, after the loss of this customer in connection with the revolution of 17, mass production was launched. The workshop provided work for farmers-watchmakers. The latter brought finished products a few weeks later to the Cret-Vaillant family home. The watch was subjected to an examination at TISSOT and put a sign that the watch met the criteria of watch quality. Watches that did not meet these criteria were eliminated.

6. Since 1974, when Tissot sponsored the motor race in Le Mans, France, Tissot has repeatedly taken part as an official partner or "keeper of time" in major sporting events, including Formula 1 racing, Mountain Bike World Cup, FIM Motorcycle World Championships sports and others.

7. It is believed that the name of the Swiss watch brand Swatch comes from the phrase "Swiss Watch" (Swiss watch), but Nicholas George Hayek claimed that in fact the name came from the phrase "Second Watch" (Second watch), that is, a watch for every day, as an available accessory.

8. To date, the world produces more than 1 billion watch movements a year. Of these, about 60% are in Japan. The most expensive watches are Swiss ones, so Swiss companies, yielding to Japanese ones in terms of the number of watches produced, are significantly ahead of them in terms of revenue.

9. Chopard's is the most expensive watch in the world. The total number of carats of diamonds is 201. Their value is $25 million.

10. The younger brother of the Sultan of Brunei, Prince Jeffrey, paid $5.2 million for 10 diamond-studded watches.

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We encounter watches almost everywhere: on the street, at work, at home. It is difficult to imagine our life if the clock had not been invented. Interesting facts about this thing will prove how useful and important it is.

1. The first clock was created by the Egyptians around 1500 BC.

2. The most popular watch color is black.

3. About the first water clock became known more than 4000 years BC, and they were used in China.

4. On a cuckoo clock, you need to change the time without touching the hour hand, because this can disrupt their mechanism.

5. In European countries, clocks were commonly used to lure people to prayer.

6. You will never be able to find watches in the casino, because neither the waiters wear them there, nor they hang them on the walls.

7. There are clocks that move counterclockwise.

9. More than 1 billion watches are created every year in the world.

10. In cold weather, the hourglass will go much faster than in warm weather.

11. The first wrist watch was created for the Queen of Naples in 1812.

12. For a long time, watches were only a women's accessory, but during the First World War, men also appreciated them.

13. The clock goes from left to right, because the shadow of the sundial goes exactly the same way.

14. Interesting facts about watches confirm that many people in the world consider Swiss watches to be the most accurate.

15.Today, there are watches without a dial and hands.

16. Wristwatches came into use in the 18th century.

17. The most accurate clock is atomic.

18. The mechanical clock was founded by H. Huygens, a scientist from Holland.

19. Hourglass appeared after solar.

20. Pocket watches were used in ancient Rome. This thing was similar to an egg cup. This is what watch facts say.

21. The first sundial had the only drawback: it only ran outdoors, especially in the sun.

22. Fire clocks are known to the people.

23. James Joy, who is a famous and popular writer, liked to wear 5 watches at a time.

24. Tag Heuer is considered the most prestigious watch brand. These watches measured the results of the Olympic Games and Formula 1.

25. The Swiss corporation has created a clock with the image of Mario, who is a popular hero of the game.

26. The most visited place in Venice is the clock tower.

27. The most expensive watches are those that were bought for 11 million at Sotheby's.

28. Switzerland is considered the birthplace of watchmaking.

29. The Hermitage has a famous exhibit - the Peacock Clock, which was created in England. This clock was made to order by Catherine II's favorite.

31. Germany is considered the birthplace of watch clocks.

32. On the first watch-clocks there was only 1 hand.

33. In the UK there is the largest museum in which there are cuckoo clocks.

34. The first mechanical table clock was brought by Dutch traders to Japan.

35. Traditional Japanese watches looked like a flashlight.

36. The dial, divided into 10 sectors, is called the "French Revolution" watch.

37. An analogue of a watch in China was an oiled rope with knots tied.

38. Design engineer Andy Kurovets created a unique and creative watch that represents fertilization.

39. A modern gadget is considered to be a watch worn on a finger, like a ring.

40. In New York there was a clock that showed not time, but.

41. There is a clock showing the time for dogs. They are called dog watches.

42. Nudist watches were produced in Holland.

43. Watches “for love” were sold in stores in Japan. According to them, thanks to a special program, couples could make love exactly as much as they themselves planned.

44. In the Far East, water clocks were widely used.

45. Today, an hourglass is used for medical purposes when a patient undergoes a physiotherapy procedure.

46. ​​Electronic clocks of the modern type are more than 50 years old.

47. Cuckoo clocks appeared in the 19th century, and their price was not cheap.

48. More than 13 types of sundials were used.

49. Mechanical watches have only 4 main parts.

50. There are flower clocks on the streets of many cities.

curator of belles-lettres

Even in the era of smartphones, wristwatches do not remain on the sidelines in our personal collection of accessories. Let's check the clock? It's time to learn more about them!

The first clocks appeared among the Sumerians and the ancient Egyptians

And it was a sundial. The shadow falling from a pole stuck in the sand or earth, crossing the drawn circle - the prototype of the dial, indicated the time of day. Mankind has been using such clocks since the 3rd millennium BC. e.

Pocket watches became famous in the 15th century

And they called them "Nuremberg eggs." Firstly, because they were invented by Peter Henlein, a master watchmaker from the German city of Nuremberg, approximately in 1503, having reduced the table clock. Secondly, because Henlein's watch was rounded, like a modern fish can. The mechanism was placed in a brass case, and only one hand, the hour hand, walked around the dial. The minute hand appeared later, in the middle of the 16th century, and the second hand appeared in the middle of the 18th century.

Hours SL: ; with colored dial(order)

The first wristwatches were designed for women

The dispute about who was the first to make women's watches is being fought by two respected and world-famous brands: Breguet and Patek Philippe. Breguet has documents confirming that in 1810 for Caroline Murat, sister of Napoleon Bonaparte and Queen of Naples, a watch with a silver dial on a gold bracelet, with a fight was created. And Patek Philippe in 1868 completed an order for a bracelet watch from the Hungarian Countess Koskovich (according to another version, Kotsevich). The difficulty is that both rarities have not survived to this day, so it is difficult to give the laurels of the first ladies' watchmaker to one person.

And men until the 1930s used pocket watches, considering the watch on the wrist as a female adornment. The hostilities of the late 19th century and the First World War “helped” to force out the accessory on a chain from the favorites of the strong half of humanity: on the front line, it was more convenient and safer to use a watch securely fastened on your hand. Such clocks even became known as trench clocks.

The first waterproof watch was made in 1926

And they were created by Rolex watchmakers. The model had a waterproof and dustproof sealed case, thanks to which it received the name Oyster, which means “oyster” in English. To convince all doubters of the unique characteristics of the movement, Rolex presented a couple of watches to the English swimmer Mercedes Gleitze, and on October 7, 1927, she crossed the English Channel in them. After ten hours in the water, the watch worked flawlessly.

SL watch: with colored dial; on a yellow strap(order)

Quartz watches are more accurate than mechanical ones.

In 1657, the Dutch inventor Christian Huygens first assembled a mechanical pocket watch, and in 1675 he patented it. The daily error of his watch did not exceed 10 seconds, similar to modern mechanisms. The first quartz watch, that is, a battery-powered rather than a spring watch that does not require daily winding, was released in 1957 by the American company Hamilton.

Each type of watch has its advantages and disadvantages, but in terms of accuracy, quartz is confidently ahead of mechanics: the accuracy (error) of a quartz watch is from 5 to 15-20 seconds per month, and mechanical - from minus 20 to plus 40 seconds per day.

"Happy Time" on the watch face boosts watch sales

For watches displayed in shop windows, the time is set so that the location of the hands on the dial resembles a smile: for example, ten hours ten minutes. Such a “smiley face” arouses subconscious sympathy among buyers, which means it has a positive effect on watch sales. Marketers call this technique happy time, or "happy time."

SL watch: on a red strap; on purple strap(order)

The first electronic watch "declared itself" in the 1970s

In 1971, the Swiss company BWC made the first watch with four digit windows on a liquid crystal screen instead of a dial with arrows. The technology turned out to be expensive and imperfect, but the interest in the novelty was great, and the research of watchmakers continued. In 1972, the Hamilton company already mentioned by us introduced the Pulsar P1 watch with an LED display and in a case made of ... 18 carat gold. Electronic watches entered mass fashion thanks to the Japanese company Seiko, which since 1973 has been producing budget and practical watch models with liquid crystal indicators, that is, with an LCD display.

The smartwatch era began in the 1980s

A modern digital watch is a mini-computer with a touch screen and the functions of a chronometer, mobile phone, navigator, organizer, camera, and so on and so forth. The "grandfathers" of the Apple Watch, Sony SmartWatch and other smartwatches in the usual sense, released after 2013, were Seiko and Casio devices in the 1980-1990s and Linux Watch, created in 1998 (however, at the end of 2001, the project was rolled up). So, the first watch with a calculator appeared back in 1975, with a TV - in 1982 (the Guinness Book of Records marked Seiko TV Watch as the smallest TV in the world), with an external keyboard for data entry - in 1983.

The history of watches with built-in games is also interesting. The first such model (Unitrex Monte Carlo) was released in 1977. It had three games: jackpot, dice, roulette - and they did not have their own visualization, but were a random number generator on the display. The full graphics gaming watch was introduced by Casio in 1980. Models GM-10, GM-20, GM-30 and GM-40 pleased owners with the opportunity to have fun with a couple of shooting games and a game similar to Tetris.

Watch: SL with transparent dial; Ceramic Okami (to order)

An anti-clock is a clock that goes backwards

Clocks run from left to right (clockwise) because that is the direction the shadow of the sundial moves. But! This fact is true only for the Northern Hemisphere; in the Southern Hemisphere, the shadow of a gnomon (pole or column of a sundial) moves the other way around.

Until the 20th century, the inhabitants of both hemispheres used watches with both directions of the arrows. In Europe there are tower clocks with reverse movement, for example in Prague and Munich. But in the end, the “northern”, the course of arrows familiar to us today, won.

However, pocket, wrist and wall clocks, going against the sun, from right to left, and therefore having an “inverted” dial, do not stop being produced. Even the Soviet industry, the legendary factories "Lightning", "Chaika", "Rocket" had their own anti-watches. This unusual accessory, which adds originality and style to its owner, by the way, time shows as expected, you just need to get the hang of it quickly.

Today, the world produces more than 1 billion watches a year

The leader of the world watch market is Japan: its manufacturers account for 60% of sales. In the premium segment, Switzerland traditionally rules the show: the products of its firms are the most expensive. The number of sold mechanical, quartz, electronic and digital (touch) wrist movements, which has exceeded one billion, suggests that many of us have in our personal collection not one or two pairs of watches, but much more - for all occasions.

SL watch: on a pink strap; in aluminum alloy case(order)