Stopwatch Relics
It is not unusual for people to wonder where the stopwatch originated. There are some that would dare say that ancient Egyptians were the creators of the first stopwatch and it is not as far-fetched as it would sound, because many ancient civilizations were responsible for inventing some advanced technological items. If you want proof, just take a look at the pyramids of Egypt and then figure out just how they managed to build them. Since it is impossible to ask the ancient Egyptians to show us a stopwatch of theirs, we can only start with the earliest known stopwatches which were made by Leon Breitling back in 1884.
This watch brand was expensive, because they were originally developed to be used in the aviation field. Although that was the intent, people started to purchase them and wear them as a status symbol. These original stopwatches were made before the electronics were developed and therefore are mechanical with a winding mechanism.
The majority of these have a large face, so while they would be slightly awkward to wear as an actual watch it didn’t seem to stop anyone from doing it. You have to remember that this was in a time where anything expensive had to be good, and therefore it was a real status symbol.
Now let’s look at a stopwatch that has been a popular icon for the longest time. For more than fifty years the public has been enthralled by the popular show “60 Minutes”. There was always a stopwatch up in the corner of the screen but did you ever think about the fact that they didn’t have CGI back then? Yes, that stopwatch was real and for well over fifty years it sat there ticking away. Some would argue that it was the stopwatch that made the show so popular when it aired on September 24, 1968.
It may have spent more than 50 years ticking away the time for the TV show, but it now can be seen in the Smithsonian where it is displayed along with other famous television icons. It was not thrown away like garbage after it was no longer needed. The importance of this stopwatch for the show is something that actually is quite surprising for many people.
Stopwatches are still basically the same, even though they have advanced over time. They now keep track of laps, can be used to measure time for lab experiments and many other things, as well as keeping track of time in several different countries. This is a big difference to the functions of the original stopwatch that was invented, but it is still important to keep in mind the humble roots.
Regardless of what new inventions come out nowadays, they all have one thing in common and that is the fact that there was a long, hard road that had to be traveled beforehand. Next time you are holding a stopwatch, take some time to think about the history of this device and the role it has played in society. You are bound to come up with more examples than have been mentioned in this article.