The first mechanical clock is thought to have been made at a monastery in northern Italy around 1300 A.D, to help the monks adhere to their strict daily routine, built around seven sessions of prayer. Larger tower clocks driven by heavy weights were soon used across Europe to allow all to share the same idea of time. Subsequently, the inventions of mainsprings, pendulums and balance springs gradually enabled the manufacture of smaller, more accurate and more portable clocks and watches.
