Time is precious to all of us. We run our lives by knowing what time it is. Pick Johnny up from school at 4, cook tea at 5 in time for Phillip's arrival at 7.30. Finally sit down at eight for the next episode of Eastenders.

The world is run by time whether we like it not and where would be without it. It stops us from being lazy and it organizes our days. So the invention of time keeping devices has been very important to our history. But it is something that has evolved slowly. Shepherds used to tell the time by the position of the sun and how now we can laugh when all we have to do today is flick back our sleeves and look at our wristwatch to know the time by the exact second.

But how did the wrist watch itself evolve? This short excerpt will take a quick look at major innovations in watch making. The Quartz watch and the Atomic watch. The Quartz watch used crystals to aid the electronically movement of the watch. The first people to introduce this to the world were the Sinclair group.

Unfortunately there initial attempt proved to be disastrous. The digital watches looked slick, when the worked they were slick however the battery lasted all of ten days, rendering this invention useless for anything but a fashion accessory. But the attempt had been made and obviously it was not in vain because only a few years later Texas instruments came up with a Quartz watch that kept the time and it's power for long periods.

As well as that they were willing to put it on the market for an affordable price. Another innovation of watch making is the Atomic clock. Atomic clocks use the element cesium to keep it ticking. Cesium is a silvery metal found in granite and is known by scientist to be the most electropositive element in the periodic table.

What is more amazing about cesium and obviously another reason it was used was because only a small amount is needed and the clock will run for years. The atomic clock is used as the national standard for keeping time in the United States of America. Nowadays we take time for granted. Our clocks run perfectly and if there is a problem we tend to demand to know why. It ruins our life.

Just imagine if you had to try and stop your loved one from leaving the country at noon, only to find when you look down at your watch that it had stopped. Like mobile phones are fast becoming watches have gone from a luxury item to an essential one.

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Beach, Florida. Find more about this as well as fine watches at http://www.watchesplusmore.com