Chronometry
[3] Chronometry enables the establishment of standard measurements of time, which have applications in a broad range of social and scientific areas.
Horology usually refers specifically to the study of mechanical timekeeping devices, while chronometry is broader in scope, also including biological behaviours with respect to time (biochronometry), as well as the dating of geological material (geochronometry).
The largest horological membership organisation globally is the NAWCC, the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, which is US based, but also has local chapters elsewhere.
Records of timekeeping are attested during the Paleolithic, in the form of inscriptions made to mark the passing of lunar cycles and measure years.
[4][5] Chronometry is derived from two root words, chronos and metron (χρόνος and μέτρον in Ancient Greek respectively), with rough meanings of "time" and "measure".
[6] The root word is correlated with the god Chronos in Ancient Greek mythology, who embodied the image of time, originated from out of the primordial chaos.
[6] It can as well be seen in the light of an advantage, profit, or fruit of a thing,[7] but has also been represented in apocalyptic feeling, and likewise shown as variable between misfortune and success, being likened to a body part vulnerable due to a gap in armor for Homer,[9] benefit or calamity depending on the perspective.
The implication of chronos, an indifferent disposition and eternal essence lies at the core of the science of chronometry, bias is avoided, and definite measurement is favoured.
Examples of these behaviours can be: the relation of daily and seasonal tidal cues to the activity of marine plants and animals,[12] the photosynthetic capacity and phototactic responsiveness in algae,[13] or metabolic temperature compensation in bacteria.
Examples include: factors of human performance, sleep, metabolism, and disease development, which are all connected to cycles related to biochronometry.
[19] This testing emphasises the mental events' time-course and nature and assists in determining the structural functions in human information processing.
[21] The dating of geological materials makes up the field of geochronometry, and falls within areas of geochronology and stratigraphy, while differing itself from chronostratigraphy.
[22] Geochronometry deals with calculating a precise date of rock sediments and other geological events, giving an idea as to what the history of various areas is, for example, volcanic and magmatic movements and occurrences can be easily recognised, as well as marine deposits, which can be indicators for marine events and even global environmental changes.
Their physiological and behavioural seasonal cycles mainly being influenced by a melatonin based photoperiod time measurement biological system – which measures the change in daylight within the annual cycle, giving a sense of the time in the year – and their circannual rhythms, providing an anticipation of environmental events months beforehand to increase chances of survival.
[32] However, as humans' focus turned to farming the importance and reliance on understanding the rhythms and cycle of the seasons grew, and the unreliability of lunar phases became problematic.
An early human accustomed to the phases of the moon would use them as a rule of thumb, and the potential for weather to interfere with reading the cycle further degraded the reliability.
One example is the Royal Greenwich Observatory, which is also the source of the Prime Meridian and the home of the first marine timekeepers accurate enough to determine longitude (made by John Harrison).
Other good horological libraries providing public access are at the Musée international d'horlogerie in Switzerland, at La Chaux-de-Fonds, and at Le Locle.
