Horology
that branch of science which treats of the principles and construction of machines for measuring and indicating portions of time. It is almost an impossibility to state who was the individual that intended either a clock or a watch; due to the fact that formerly the term horologium was applied to a sun dial or a clock indiscriminately. As far back as the close of the 13th or the beginning of the 14th century, striking clocks were known in Italy. In 1288, as we are told by Coke, a stone clock tower was erected opposite Westminster Hall, and in it was placed a clock. About 1364 a German horologer, Henry de Wick, de Vick, de Wyk, or de Wyck, set up a clock in the tower of the palace of Charles V. of France.