Clocks come in many forms. The earliest clocks were the shadow casting obelisks.
The monumental clock originally in Essex Cathedral is the first recorded mechanical clock built in 1284.
Didondi's Astrarium (1354) is believed to be one of the first, if not the first, astronomical timekeeper. Although it does not survive, the plans for it do and models have been built. Smaller clocks used to call the faithful to prayer were the forerunners of today's domestic clocks.
Modern mechanical timekeeping dates from the invention of the pendulum and the balance at the end of the 17th century.
Galileo had first proposed the pendulum 100 years earlier
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