Why do Clocks run clockwise? by David Feldman
Author:David Feldman [Feldman, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 2011-05-08T04:37:15+00:00
On Clocks and Watches with Roman Numerals, Why Is Four Usually Noted as IIII Rather than IV?
Watch and clock designers are given great latitude in designating numbers on timepiece faces. Some use arabic numbers, most use roman numerals, and a few use no numbers at all.
But have you noticed that while the number nine is usually designated as “IX” on timepieces, four is almost universally designated as “IIII”? We contacted some of the biggest manufacturers of watches, and even they couldn’t pinpoint the derivation of this custom. But they sent us to our friend, Henry Fried, who swatted away this Imponderable as if it were a gnat.
When mechanical clocks were first invented, in the fourteenth century, they were displayed in public places, usually on cathedrals.
The faces themselves were only ornamental at first, for the early models had no hour or minute hand but merely gonged once for every hour of the day.
Clocks were thus of special value to the common people, who were almost universally illiterate. Most peasants, even in Italy, could not read roman numerals, and they could not subtract. They performed calculations and told time by counting on their fingers. Four slash marks were much easier for them to contend with than “IV,”
taking one away from five.
Many early clocks displayed twenty-four hours rather than twelve.
While some German clocks in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries used roman numerals to denote A.M. and arabic numbers for P.M., all-day clocks remained especially troublesome for the illiterate. So some clock designers always displayed all numbers ending with four or nine with slash marks rather than “IV” or “IX.”
Why do clockmakers persist in using roman numerals today?
Primarily because the touch of antiquity pleases consumers. At a time when dependable clocks and watches can be produced for less than they could decades ago, manufacturers need design elements to convince consumers to spend more. Although some WHY DO CLOCKS RUN CLOCKWISE? / 151
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