How to tell the time in the dark... in the 17th century | The Night Clock | Curator's Corner S2 Ep 6
The British Museum The British Museum
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 Published On May 30, 2017

In 1675 (or thereabouts) telling the time in the middle of the night was no easy task. You couldn't simply flick a light switch and look at a clock. To get around this problem the British clockmaker Edward East came up with an ingenious device – the night clock.

The night clock's illuminated dials meant that you could tell the time at any time – day or night. The only problem? You had to use an oil lamp to illuminate the numbers, and like most clocks, the night clock had a wooden case...

Find out more about the night clock: https://goo.gl/bElZNh

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