13th-Century Mechanical Clock

Timeline

1. c. 1200–1270European monasteries · Western EuropeFrom the 12th to early 13th centuries, European monasteries experimented with weight-driven devices building on existing water clocks and candle clocks, using gear trains and early escapements to achieve steadier timekeeping, providing technical prototypes for large public mechanical clocks.
2. c. 1271–1280Salisbury, Dunstable, and other locations · EnglandIn the 1270s, Salisbury Cathedral and Dunstable Priory in England, along with some French cathedrals, successively installed mechanical clocks centered on weights and escapements, striking bells to mark the hours for religious services, becoming among the earliest documented public mechanical timekeeping examples in Europe.
3. c. 1280–1400Northern Italian cities · ItalyFrom the late 13th to 14th centuries, mechanical clock technology spread from churches to city squares; Italian city-states installed large clock faces and striking systems in clock towers, transforming the mechanical clock from a religious tool into a civic standard of public time, promoting the institutionalization of commerce and guild schedules.