Welcome

In a nutshell, the study of measuring time. Most textbooks start with the stars and how we can use them for that purpose, including of course our own. Solar clocks, water clocks, you name it and it existed before the modern clock was invented.

Turns out that timekeeping was crucial for navigation so in a sense, making clocks better became a precondition of navigating the globe and a lot of advancements in (micro)mechanics started there.

Of course, these days we keep all but perfect time and position using atoms and satellites and software, but a lot of people are attracted to these marvelous mechanical devices that measure time. So learning about (mostly mechanical) watches and clocks, what makes them tick, how to maintain them and how to repair them is usually the topic of discussion for horology forums.

It's a very deep rabbit hole. But a fun one.

I started going down it because I like tinkering, doing fine motoric stuff but found spending money on Lego sets got boring and I ran out of space to display them. Watches are much more space efficient and when done with them, you can sell them :)

I’d like to know too. I could google but it’s always better to hear about a hobby from someone who’s in to it.