ABSTRACT
To master the measurement of time has often been presented by scholars as a major concern in the transformation of human societies. 1 The two big stages in this history of material civilization in the West were fi rst the emergence and dispersal of tower clocks during the Middle Age, which consecrated the affi rmation of bourgeoisies emancipated from the supervision of the Church, and second the widespread use of precise and cheap mechanical watches, which went together with industrialization at the end of the 19th century. This is the general pattern of Europe. Yet in the more distant civilizations, which encountered the West within the context of imperialism and colonialism, the relation to time evolved, but in different conditions. The mutations caused by the Western impact led to new social uses of time and to a new demand for timekeepers; a new market emerged from this mutation.
