Nowadays time is around us everywhere and all the time. Whether it’s displayed on the computer, your kitchen equipment, or phone just to name a few. It won’t be hard to read the time at any given moment of the day without looking at your wrist. So it’s hard to imagine that people made a living selling time. But once there was a clever business women who made a living by actually selling the time. To give you a better picture, we have to look at time synchronization today and in history.
Time synchronisation
Apple Watch, Image: Apple
Most digital time displays are synchronized through the internet automatically. Therefore they are always displaying the actual time with minimal deviation. Some clocks and watches come with a built-in feature which allows them to pick up daily radio-controlled signals. Owning several I know the ease of use. They are updated and corrected on a daily basis.
But as you can imagine this was different in the past. Internet as we know it has only been around since 1990. Some of the first modern radio clocks went over the counter only some 7 years earlier. Before that time information was incorporated in radio and tv using sound signals for instance. Going back further in time we end up at the Royal Observatory which plays a mayor role in astronomy and timekeeping.
Royal observatory
Royal Observatory, Image: Royal Museums Greenwich
At the Royal observatory time synchronisation started by the use of a large ball which was located on the roof of the building. This ball was raised 5 minutes before 1 p.m. every day. Going up half as a signal, it was raised to the top a few minutes before it would be released at 1 p.m. exactly. This service started in 1833 and was used by sailors mostly to synchronise their marine chronometers.
In 1852 a large clock was installed on the gate of the Royal Observatory which displayed the actual time to the general public. This clock was operated by pulses from the master clock which also operated the time ball. Through the years these pulses were sent by cable to London Bridge and from there it was distributed to other clocks mourned the country.
Selling time
The Belville family pocket watch Arnold, Image: Clockmakers Museum
Still you would have to go to the clock for synchronisation and this is where people came up with a service. John Belville who was an assistant at the Royal Observatory created a service where he would set his chronometer and update around 200 clients during the week. Using his pocket chronometer which he would set to the correct Greenwich Mean Time regularly. Visiting his clients he would set their clock accordingly. After his death in 1856 this service was continued by his wife until their daughter Ruth took over the business in 1892 after her mother also passed away.
Greenwich Time Lady
Ruth Belville at work, Image: Popular Science Monthly
Ruth Belville became known as the Greenwich Time Lady for doing her work with clockwork precision. Every Monday she would visit the Greenwhich observatory to set her chronometer pocketwatch made by John Arnold (beside Breguet one of the most influential watchmakers of his time) and just like her father and mother she would visit each of their clients to help them to adjust their clocks to the correct time.
Even despite attempts of the competitor John Wynne, to damage her publicly in the early 1900’s she managed to keep the business going. During a speech Mr. Wynne not called her service outdated but also made a remark, she might have used her femininity to gain business.
The Times newspaper published an article about the speech creating a big stir. What the article didn’t mention, was that Mr. Wynne owned a company distributing time signals through a telegraph and therefore had an interest to discredit her service.
Luckily for Ruth the ruthless method backfired and all the journalists approaching her because of a potential scandal, ultimately provided free advertising which resulted in more sales.
As time passed telegraphic communications grew and in 1924 radio blips or beeps were introduced. Anyone with a radio now had access to the correct time. However Ruth Belville managed to keep her time synchronisation service running until 1940. At that time the company stopped it’s service after being around for 103 years. Ruth Belville had the respectabel ago of 86 years and passed away 4 years later.
Read more:
What is the difference between a chronograph and chronometer?
Better Than Perfect – Overengineering in Watchmaking
The post Watchmaking History: the business woman who sold the time appeared first on Chrono24 Magazine.