Since the beginning, the concept of time has existed in one form or another. Although, it is a fact that clocks and watches were developed much later, people in the ancient times have always used some phenomenon to measure and keep track of time. In ancient times, the world has seen everything from hourglasses and water clocks to fire clocks and sundials.

Watches were made in Japan in different forms, before watch making became an industry. According to the Chronicles of Japan, it was in 671 that the Emperor Tenchi produced a water clock. As far as the watch industry in Japan is concerned, it goes back to the time of arrival of Christianity. This happened in the mid sixteenth century.

It was during the year of 1551 when the very first mechanical clock was believed to be made in Japan. This clock was given as a present to the feudal lord of Japan from a Spanish missionary; it is believed to be the first ever clock to be made on the face of this planet. Production of many more clocks followed this remarkable invention. The evolvement of these watches went on to gain a bigger scale, and this is how the development of the watch manufacturing industry came into existence in Japan.

The evolution of the watch industry is more famously recognised as the Pre-Edo era; during this era, the Japanese people learnt not just the art of watch making but also various other skills, which involved organs and astronomical equipments that they acquired from the Christian missionaries. After the Pre-Edo era, the commencement of the Pre-Edo age began, and it was during this Pre-Edo age that the Japanese started to manufacture a lot of exclusive ornamental clocks.

The age of Pre-Edo lasted from the year 1603 to 1868. The clocks that were manufactured during this age were purely Japanese for the reason that their conventional Japanese time system had been integrated in these watches. As per the Japanese system for time calculation, the day was separated into night-time and daytime, and each one of these was further divided into six segments.

The Edo era has witnessed many master clock and watchmakers. The clocks in this era consisted of wall clocks as well as those that were spring powered and could be placed on cabinets or shelves. Around this time, the production of clocks with complex functions had already started. These complications include calendars, chimes and alarms.

1868 to 1945 was the period of the birth as well as growth of the modern watch and clock making industry. This era is known in history as the Early Meiji Era. The start of this modern era was when the manufacture of wall clocks started in 1875. It was in 1894 that Osaka, which was a Japanese company, started making pocket watches, with the assistance of equipment and engineers from the US.

When this era reached its end, Japan had more than twenty factories that were manufacturing more than 3.8 million timepieces on a yearly basis. The Japanese made several pocket watches during this time, and these watches were extensively used till the end of the World War II.

The Japanese watch industry has had support from their government when a private sector institute was established that constantly researched and worked on the improvement of domestic watches. In the 1920s, the manufacture of wristwatches was started by the Japanese. Lo and behold, instead of a necessity, wristwatches became a symbol of fashion and till today remain so.

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