Some people have often wondered where the stopwatch came from originally. Some would venture that the ancient Egyptions made the first stopwatch, and that may very well be true because ancient cultures invented some very advanced pieces of technology. If you don’t believe me then you should probably visit one of their pyramids and then try to figure out exactly how they pulled that one off. Since we can’t go back and ask them to show us their stopwatch we would have to say that one of the earliest examples of the stopwatch was created by Leon Breitling in 1884.
The first stopwatches of the time were actually developed for use in aviation and were also very expensive. Despite what the intended purpose was, people wore stopwatches as a status symbol. Since this was a time before the age of electronics, these stopwatches were mechanical and most had a winding mechanism.
Most of these stopwatches had a large face and although that would be strange to wear like a regular watch, it was done anyway. The awkwardness didn’t bother people since anything that cost a lot of money was considered to be good and used as a status symbol.
We will now take a closer look at the stopwatch that has been a well known icon for a long time already. More than fifty years long people have been watching the TV show “60 Minutes” and in the corner of the screen is a stopwatch. However, who wondered about whether or not there was CGI at the time? That stopwatch actually existed and spent more than fifty years ticking away. There are in fact those who believe that the stopwatch is what made the show popular after it was first aired on the 24th of September in 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.
No matter what new inventions there are, all of them have had a long road to go down before they go to where they are now. When you are holding a stopwatch, then next time take a few moments to contemplate the history this small device has had and its role in society. You will surely come up with many more examples than just the one mentioned above.
If you are researching digital stopwatch, check out this blog which has good articles on mechanical stopwatch.