Origins of the Watch making Industry Essay -- Design and Technology

Origins of the settle making IndustryThe production of suckes was a major industry of Great Britain forhundreds of years. Watch making originated in Europe in the early 16thcentury, when coiled springs were first used to power clock. Clockswere powered by weights originally, and therefore remained stationary.The springs meant that clocks could be moved for the first time, andsoon, German clockmakers started to make very small clocks, which areconsidered as the earliest watches do. Watch making was the mostadvanced air travel of the clock making industry, which developed whenBlacksmiths started introducing their skills with metal to clockmaking.Watches were being made in Great Britain from around the middle ofElizabeth 1 reign as butt of England. (1533 1603) It is likely thatthe success of European Watchmakers encouraged British Watchmakers tostart producing Watches to make sure they werent behind intechnological developments. During this, watches were extremelyexpensive, and t herefore sort of rare, they were also quite inaccurate,and only had an hour hand. Most designs for early watches were for thewatches to be worn around the neck, on either a cord or ribbon. Thiswas because it was a status symbol to be seen wearing a watch and thewatches were still pretty large, and couldnt fit in the pocket veryeasily, if the clothes had pockets, as this was also a rarity.It was in the late 17th century that the watch making industry becamea much more renowned industry in Britain. Evolution in watch designmeant that watches soon became more accurate, which made them muchmore useful and as a result, the demand increased for British watches.Watch making in Prescot By the 18th century, Prescot was well established as the centre ofwatch making in England, and for 100 years after, Prescot would sustainworld famous for its product quality.John Wyke and other famous watch makers started their businesses inPrescot, and at the beginning of Queen Victorias reign in 1837, Wat chmaking was renowned in Prescot.The area was already well known for its tools most importantly files,and metal works, which made it easier for business to thrive.Extremely high up quality tools and metal were required by watchmakers sothe industries were set up next to each other to make life simpler.Liverpool became a major c... ... into thePrescot watch making industry in an attempt to keep it competitive, ithad all but gone from prescot by the mid 1880s. A decision was made toact, and T.P Hewitt was one of the establish members of the LancashireWatch Company. The building was completed in 1889, and it was based onthe American Factory system of manufacture, where complete watchmovements were made, by machines, under one roof. The milling machinery wasfitted out with machines to produce the watch parts, powered by asteam engine called the Horologer (Horology is the correct name forthe study and production of clocks and watches).They made a range of watches too suit all the poo rest of pockets. Itlasted into the 20th century and had some success, becoming a majorproducer of watches in Britain. However, foreign disceptation was toogreat and by that time, very well established. This combined with poormarketing, especially overseas led to the company being forced toclose its doors in 1910. Some small workshops still produced timepieces in Prescot until the middle of the 20th century, but the watchmaking industry in Prescot effectively ended with the resoluteness of theLancashire watch company.