World time clock in the form of a lighthouse, Junghans, Schramberg, circa 1905
The Age of Railways
In 1848, Charles Dickens wrote about the revolutionary power of the new mode of transport, the railway, in his novel Dombey and Son: "One could even see railway time inside the Metal clock Inserts, as if the sun had succumbed." What is happening here? As railways became more widespread, it became clear that every city began to have its own solar time.
The 1880s Geneva clock tower with three clocks: the one on the left shows French time, the one on the right shows Swiss railway time, and the one in the middle shows local Geneva time.
Initially rail travellers were at a loss: how should they set their watches on a moving train? Should it be based on the local time at the point of departure, or on the time at the station of destination? (Metal clock Inserts)
To clarify this question, uniform times were introduced in the mid-19th century. Usually, they were set according to the time at the headquarters of the railway company or the local capital. These railway times did not always make the time clearer, especially in border towns such as Geneva, where one had to solve the problem of three different times. Until 1886, the clock tower displayed three different times each day,(Metal clock Inserts)one for railways bound for France (Paris time), one for Swiss time (Bernier time) and one for the local time in Geneva. This led to the whims of watchmakers, who developed watches that could display different times. In practice, however, these watches were unable to gain a foothold on the market because it was difficult to tell time with them.(Metal clock Inserts)
On the way to the New World Time System
When the sun was at its highest point in Europe, it was exactly midnight on the other side of the earth. Until the middle of the 19th century, this fact had little or no effect on most people.
(Metal clock Inserts)Things changed when people began sending messages around the world via telegraph cables. (Metal clock Inserts)
