Perhaps one of the most interesting timepieces is the stopwatch.

Unlike a regular time-telling device, this timepiece is capable of counting time backward and forward. Most people think of an athletic sprinter running when they hear the word “stopwatch”; perhaps those who are old enough to remember the early 1980s may associate the word with the infamous Stopwatch Gang. This group robbed many banks, setting an amount record at a Bank of America branch in San Diego, robbing the location for $283,000 in 1980. The Stopwatch Gang received their nickname for the stopwatch they were noted carrying during each robbery.

Over the years, stopwatches have seen many improvements and have evolved into the precise and reliable devices they are today. Since we couldn’t find any information on the subject, we thought it’d be a good idea to write a blog post about the History of Stopwatches.

Before the first genuine stopwatch was released, another similar timepiece set the mold for the stopwatch’s design and function: the chronograph.

While it is known that the first chronograph surfaced in 1821, there is much controversy over who is credited with inventing it. Popular belief insists that it was created by Nicolas Rieussec, a royal French watchmaker, but this is not true. Rieussec’s model was actually designed as a specialized and improved model over the first chronograph, and was intended specifically for King Louis Philippe who used it to time horse races. Osvaldo Patrizzi, one of the world’s most renowned horological experts and the chairman of Patrizzi & Company, verified that the first chronograph was actually created by the Swiss watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet.

The Chronograph

The chronograph was similar to the stopwatch in its ability to measure time both forward and backward. There are two things that set apart the early chronographs from early stopwatches. First, the chronograph was able to tell time in addition to recording time increments, while the first stopwatches merely counted time increments. Early chronographs often recorded time lapses by way of an ink pen on an index; today the chronograph has evolved into digital and wrist-worn devices. To make the point simplified, a chronograph was originally intended to actually record the time increments and the stopwatch was created to simply show the time increments.

Stopwatches were intended to be an easier and more practical method for keeping track of time intervals.

Evolved from the chronograph, the first actual stopwatch was crafted in 1869 by TAG Heuer, a famous Swiss luxury timepiece company. This device was used to measure intervals of time in fragments equal to 1/5th of a second. Later in 1916, TAG Heuer also created one of the most well-known stopwatches in history – the Micrograph.

The Micrograph

Capable of measuring time intervals in 1/100th of a second, the Micrograph set the trend for stopwatches. Within a short amount of time, a new design was introduced by TAG Heuer: the Semikrograph. Also called “Semicrograph” and “Semicrosplit”, this design offered a completely new concept. While the Micrograph was capable of counting down time, the Semikrograph was capable of counting down two separate sets of time by way of a split face. At 180,000 vibrations per hour and time fragments measured in 1/50th of a second intervals, this device was a revolutionary piece for time comparison between two factors or competitors where a fraction of a second could make a difference. Later in 1958, TAG Heuer also introduced the first 12-hour stopwatch, the Monte Carlo, which counted the passing hours and displayed them by way of a rotating disc.

The Semikrograph

Early stopwatch designs were mechanical in nature, powered by a mainspring. Mainsprings are torsion springs that must be wound, after which they unwind themselves. Mechanical stopwatches utilizing a mainspring generally had a loop or knob atop the face, which was used for winding the device. Once the device was wound, a side button used for the initiation of a countdown was then pushed. Once the time interval was over, the button was pushed again to stop the countdown.

Mechanical stopwatch designs were crafted until the early 1970s and soon lost popularity to the new digital stopwatch. Before the digital stopwatch became a concrete new trend, one similar device was used that surpassed all previous second fraction measurements. Developed by American timepiece company Cox Electronic Systems, the Digitimer was a digital timer able to measure time in 1/1,000th of a second fractions. First it was utilized by ski racers, then soon after adopted by the NCAA and used for the World University games in Moscow.

Released in 1972, the first digital stopwatch was patented and introduced to the public by a Northern California company called Accusplit. This company continued to make quality sports stopwatches, later being endorsed by famous athletes such as Jackie Joyner-Kersee and being named the Official Supplier to the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta, Georgia.

A Modern Digital Stopwatch

Digital stopwatches are powered by a crystal oscillator element, which is a small electronic unit that works in unison with vibrating quartz to produce a very consistent and accurate electronic frequency. The crystal oscillator is the prime component that set the accuracy of the digital stopwatch far above the mechanical version. Many digital stopwatches today also have a function to display the actual time and the date. Most digital stopwatches count time in intervals of 1/100th of a second; those used in racing require more precision and often measure 1/1,000th of a second fragments.

Since the mid-1970s, the components and structure of stopwatches have remained mostly the same, with specialized designs being crafted for specific reasons, such as sporting events, racing competitions and scientific experiments.

Although hand-held stopwatches are being increasingly replaced by computer applications of all kinds, such as our online stopwatch with alarm, the old-fashioned hand-held devices are still very useful today to athletes and the scientists who rely on them.

So there you have OnlineClock.net’s short, but we hope very informative History of Stopwatches.

We urge all of you to go hug a stopwatch today!

Tags: abraham-louis breguet, chronograph, crystal oscillator, digital stopwatch, digitimer, history of stopwatches, mainsprings, micrograph, semikrograph, stopwatch, stopwatch gang, Stopwatches, Tag Heuer

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Stopwatches are handy little devices. The Chinese are attributed with creating the first stopwatch. It was a modified water clock and used mercury in lieu of water. The phrase “split second” is thanks to the Stopwatch. Originally the phrase didn’t mean a fraction of a second. It referenced a mechanical element of a Stopwatch. When it came time to mark a lap, the second hand would split in two. One half would mark the first time and the other would keep gauging the on-going events.

Usually Stopwatches are connected to a race of some kind. Perhaps someone is running against their best time or another opponent. Other people will use a Stopwatch to time an experiment or a game. The problem is that most people don’t own an actual Stopwatch anymore. Like wrist watches are falling to the clocks on mobile phones, Stopwatches are falling to fumbling around on a cell phone or digital watch trying to figure out where that feature is hidden. (That assumes people have explored their phones enough to know if there is or isn’t a Stopwatch Function. Took me a year to discover it on mine. )

Always know if you're winning the race by using our Online Stopwatch!

Good thing there’s a handy-dandy Online Stopwatch, huh? It seems odd that more people would own a laptop or a computer than a Stopwatch, but computers are more prolific than hand-held Stopwatches. (Seriously, there are no hard statistics on this information. I’m trying to make a point here can you just go with it, please? If you need some kind of empirical evidence then use your friends. The next time you’re having a party ask for a show of hands of for whoever owns a computer and who owns a Stopwatch. Now ask them if they can actually find their Stopwatch. Happy now? Can I move on Mr. Persnickety? Thank you.) With a laptop, Wi-Fi connection, and an Online Stopwatch, you always have a way of keeping time. You can time that three-legged race, time a chess move, or even figure out how long that one crazy friend can keep a spoon balanced on his or her nose.

There are more serious uses for a Stopwatch. For example, if DBM glitches out during the Hodir fight in Ulduar and you need to know when the next Flash Freeze is going to hit, because if you don’t call it out over vent it will wipe the raid, you have access to a Stopwatch on your second monitor or computer that can mark the time. (Any World of Warcraft players reading this are nodding their heads and laughing. Everyone else is confused and is trying to figure out how WoW is serious business. )

You can use our Online Stopwatch to boil the perfect egg!

Or you can use our Online Stopwatch to brew the perfect cup of tea!

Here we’ve constructed a short list of Reasons To Use An Online Stopwatch:

1. Time how long you’ve been steeping your teabag.
2. Check to see if the pizza delivery service really delivers within the 30 minute limit.
3. Soft-boil the perfect soft boiled egg.
4. Time how long it’ll take until your girlfriend or wife starts to nag you again.
5. Keep track of the time you’re wasting by reading strange blogs.
6. See how long it takes to finish uploading a video to YouTube.
7. Keep track of laps on your model car or train set.
8. Count the intervals between when the characters say the word, “Bob” on reruns of the Bob Newhart Show.
9. Check to see if your wife is correct in telling you that your lovemaking is far too short-lived.
10. And our number one Reason To Use An Online Stopwatch: time how long it takes until the next “alleged girlfriend” of Tiger Woods reveals herself to the news media.

Additionally, with many people switching to wireless homes, you can now have an online recipe open in one tab of your web browser and a Web-Based Stopwatch open in the second tab. In this way it’s easy to keep track of how long the batter has been beaten or how long the confectionery has been running at a soft boil…simply fabulous!

Regardless of the multitude of uses, having access to our free Online Stopwatch means you never have to go searching for a stopwatch when you really need one.

Please remember that you can always find the Online Stopwatch located at http://stopwatch.onlineclock.net

As with all of OnlineClock‘s various online clocks, timers, countdowns and time tools, it doesn’t cost a cent, it’s easy to use, and there’s never anything to download or install on your computer.

So, without further ado, we’ve gotta split (that’s kind of an internal Stopwatch joke there…split, as in “split times”, get it?).

Tags: alarm clock blog, cronometro, cronometro online, online clock, online stop watch, online stopwatch, stop clock online, stop watch, stopwatch, stopwatch online, stopwatch online clock

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Okay, Clock Fans, after our long post earlier in the week, we’re going to release kind of a quickie here.

This is a simple post about a truly fun game that you can play using one of our online clocks.

Some time ago, we’d posted an article about the groovy Five Second Stopwatch Game from Japan.

The Five Second Stopwatch Game is a mega-simple game in which you start a stopwatch, close your eyes, and then try to stop the stopwatch again EXACTLY when five seconds has elapsed…while keeping your eyes closed the whole time.

The whole point is to, without looking at the stopwatch, try to guess as accurately as possible when five seconds has passed.

Sound simple?

It isn’t – try it and find out!

It may sound a little like a stupid game, but it’s actually a whole lot of fun…and strangely addictive, too.

We’ve created a Stopwatch Video demonstrating how you can play the Five Second Stopwatch Game using our Online Stopwatch:

Please pay no attention to the annoying nerd who’s talking in the background of the video!

That’s me, Tom, the guy who created Online Clock.

It’s a real home-made operation, here at OnlineClock.net folks, so the Chief Geek is also the person who does the speaking on all of our promotional videos.

We have them all posted on our YouTube account, so be sure to collect them all !

With that we wish you all a very Happy Friday (one more day to go)!

And we hope that playing our Stopwatch Games will help you ease on into the weekend…

Tags: 5 second stopwatch game, five second stopwatch game, online clock, online stopwatch, stop watch, stopwatch, stopwatch game, stopwatch game video, stopwatch video

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Editor’s Note:

Since we published this particular post, Online Clock has created its own series of Stopwatch Games, including a version of the 5 Second Stopwatch Game described below. Surely we got the idea by writing the blog post which you’re hopefully about to read!

If the game sounds interesting to you, please give our Online Stopwatch Games a try – we happen to think they’re a lot of fun.

I think I’m turning Japanese, I think I’m turning Japanese, I really think so…

At least, I’d like to, if the whole country continues to think up cool but extremely simple games such as the 5 Second Stadium Stopwatch Game, which was recently released by the Japanese Toy Company Bandai onto an unsuspecting public in the second half of 2008.

The 5 Second Stopwatch Game is extremely simple and no, it has nothing to do with my first date.

You have a Stopwatch.

You start it.

You then try to stop it…at exactly five seconds, on the dot!

That’s it – you snooze, you lose!

First, check out the marketing barrage to see how cool such a simple concept can be made to look, once marketing people have gotten their claws onto it:

They’re slimy, aren’t they, those marketing types?! (In additon to that, they wear funny suits and slick back their hair…ok, so some of my best friends happen to work in marketing.) They take something so simple even your dumb little brother could’ve thought it up and turn it into some huge genius idea by adding a few bright colors and a guy in a funny suit they call ‘Mr. Five Seconds Man’.

The deal with Mr. Five Seconds Man is that he’s supposed to praise you whenever you’ve managed to stop your stopwatch close to the five seconds mark. If you’re far away from having stopped on the five second marker, then Mr. Five Seconds Man insults you for being a girly-man, at least when it comes to stopwatch games. Yes indeed, the 5 Second Stopwatch Game from Bandai consists of a specially-constructed (and simplified!) stopwatch which actually hurls verbal insults your way when you’re far away from the five second point, and, conversely, compliments you when you’re close to the five seconds mark. Other than that, it appears to be a pretty normal stopwatch.

Now that you’ve seen the marketing hype, how about the facts and details? And how about a cookie and nice glass of milk, wouldn’t that be nice ? (Err, sorry – not enough sleep last night…)

Here’s a video with more information on the Stopwatch Game. (More than you need, want, or even deserve, as a matter of fact.) Be on the lookout for the mysterious masked figure of the 5 Second Man, who makes a fleeting appearance in his cape, mask, and Robin Hood-like tights in the background.

Oh Mr. 5 Seconds Man, please come and save us from the global financial crisis!

So what’s the moral of this story? Well, of course, it’s simply that the world continues to make no sense, this blog included.

What does make sense is that, instead of shelling out their school money and hard-earned cash for such crazy trinkets, kids everywhere, from 7 to 70 years old, can simply play the same 5 Seconds Game using OnlineClock.net.

Here are the official Game Rules:

1. Visit our Online Stopwatch.
2. Push Start.
3. Keep your mouse cursor over the Start Button - you’ll need to use the same button to stop the stopwatch.
4. Turn your head so you can’t see the numbers. No Peeking. Really.
5. When you think EXACTLY 5 Seconds has elapsed, click the button to stop the stopwatch.
6. Turn your head and look at the resulting time displayed on the stopwatch.
7. Put on a funny mask and cape, then insult yourself if you’re far away from the 5 second mark. If you’re quite near the five second mark, go ahead and treat yourself to that cookie and glass of milk.
8. Rinse and Repeat.

We’re still working on an online version of the guy in tights, so stay tuned.

Tags: alarm clock blog, five second stadium, five second stopwatch game, online stopwatch, online stopwatch game, onlineclock.net, stop watch, stopwatch, stopwatch game

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