ABSTRACT
As in the early modern period, developments centered particularly on clock time during the day and, increasingly, the night, though there were some global changes in accepted calendars. But even in the West, where the Gregorian calendar remained the common currency, some important shifts occurred in the conception of the week – most particularly the emergence of the modern weekend. As to clock time, attention shifts away from basic technological advances, though there were a few, to the abundance of possibly painful adjustments in the ways ordinary people encountered time – at work, at play, in childhood, even in routine manners. Not surprisingly, given existing trends before 1800, clock and watch technology steadily improved, generating greater accuracy. By the later 19th century, national governments began to provide testing and measurement programs by which timepieces could be evaluated. In the first half of the 19th century, American firms often claimed innovation, around new types of clock design.
