Public striking tower clock

What it is

A municipal clock that automatically struck all 24 hours on a public bell, described by Galvano Fiamma. Time became a civic rather than an ecclesiastical good.

What it led to

• working hours, markets and curfews regulated by the city
• competition between communes for ever more complex clocks
• a social synchronisation that paved the way for the Industrial Revolution

Built on

• Mechanical weight-driven clockc. 1283
• Verge and foliot escapementc. 1300
• Mechanical weight-driven clock
• Verge and foliot escapement
• bell founding

Made possible

• Mechanical weight-driven clockc. 1283
• Astronomical clock (Astrarium)1364
• Astronomical clock (Astrarium)

Links