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Time is considered one of our most valuable assets. The keeping of time goes all the way back to the beginning of civilization. Both historians and archeologists believe that stationary and portable sun-dials were probably developed in Egypt or Mesopotamia. The oldest extant sun-dial can be found in Egypt and dates back to 1500 BCE. We know that the early Egyptians used the pyramids as well as the obelisks as a forerunner to the sundial.

It is said that one of the first watches was created in Italy around 1524 CE. The main problem for portable time keeping before the 1600s was the lack of driving power. Timepieces of that era were typically driven by weights making it very difficult for portable use. The inaccuracy of timepieces in this era were very common and most watches only had one hand that had to be wound at least twice a day.

It was not until 1675 CE that the implementation of a spiral balance spring changed timekeeping forever by taking timekeeping accuracy from fractions of an hour to fractions of a minute. It was then a second hand was added to the watch. At this time Roman numerals were added to mark the minutes. Eventually, due to rapid development, a watch would only have to be wound once a day instead of every twelve hours.

With time came greater technology, and with the advent of better steel works to create more precise gears and springs, it didn't take very long to create an accurate pocket watch. To make sure the watch kept its accuracy over long periods of time, bearings were made from jewels (usually synthetic sapphires or rubies). By the 1850s, America was leading the race in mass volume watch production. Eventually Europe followed in the U.S.'s trend and began to produce in mass quantities as well.