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Who was the first to wear a wrist watch?

Ancient civilisations relied upon the apparent motion of celestial bodies to determine seasons, months, and years. Experts believe that stationary and portable sundials were probably developed in Egypt or Mesopotamia. The oldest extant sundial can be found in Egypt and dates back to 1500 BC. According to historical websites, over 20,000 years ago Ice-Age hunters in Europe scratched lines and gouged holes in sticks and bones, possibly counting the days between the phases of the moon.

• Five thousand years ago, Sumerians in the Tigris-Euphrates valley developed a calendar that divided the year into 30-day months, divided the day into 12 periods and divided these periods into 30 parts.

• The word ‘clock’ comes from the French word cloche meaning bell. The bell is called glocio in Latin, clugga in Saxon and glocke in German.

• In 1504, the first portable timepiece was invented in Nuremberg, Germany, by Peter Henlein.

• In 1577, Jost Burgi invented the minute hand. Burgi's invention was part of a clock made for Tycho Brahe, an astronomer.

• In 1656, the pendulum was invented by Christiaan Huygens. An early prototype of the alarm clock was invented by the Greeks around 250 BC. The first mechanical alarm clock was invented by Levi Hutchins of Concord, New Hampshire, in 1787. On October 24, 1876, a mechanical wind-up alarm clock that could be set for any time was patented by Seth E. Thomas.

• Swiss John Harwood invented the self-winding watch in 1923.

• The French mathematician and philosopher, Blaise Pascal, was the first person to reportedly wear a watch on the wrist.

— Compiled by Gaurav Sood