On time : a history of Western timekeeping This work is a history of technology. It surveys the development of the mechanical clock from prehistory to the modern era in a compact approachable text suitable for the general reader or for an undergraduate course text. The author seeks to answer the following questions: How did horologists achieve greater precision and ease of use for chronometers How did this advancement drive the modern scientific mind set and the timekeeping regimes that order our daily lives today