Who Are Timekeepers?

The time keeping profession started long time ago. The very simply need to gauge the divisions of the day and night led the creation of the first chronometric tools.

Origins

The Babylonians and Egyptians began measuring time systematically at least 5000 years ago, introducing calendars to organize communal activities, coordinate public events, and schedule trade. Ancient Egyptians were pioneers in dividing days into generally agreed-upon equal parts, creating the foundation for our modern understanding of time.

A time keeping evolved together with the development and advancement of time measuring devices - clocks. The earliest time keeping methods emerged around 3500 BCE in ancient Egypt, where sundials and shadow clocks were first developed. These early devices used the sun's position to measure time by observing the movement of shadows throughout the day.

More sophisticated timekeeping devices like water (clepsydra) or even sand-driven wheel clocks were developed around 1500 BCE allowing time measurement both day and night. The ancient Egyptians also created merkhets around 600 BCE - plumb-line instruments used to calculate time at night by observing star positions.

Duties

Throughout history timekeepers served various crucial functions depending on the pressing needs of societies.

In ancient times time keeping helped people to organize public events, coordinate shared tasks and schedule the transportation of goods. Most importantly time measurement, calendars guided farmers on when to plant and harvest crops by tracking seasonal cycles.

With the appearance of machancal clocks medieval timekeepers had particularly demanding responsibilities. Clock-keepers were employed by lords, towns, cathedrals and monasteries to maintain mechanical clocks. Monasteries were particularly time-conscious institutions, with monks serving as the primary timekeepers of their age. They used various devices including water clocks, sundials, hourglasses, and even star observations to maintain their strict prayer schedules.

The 19th century marked a significant time keeping shift with the invention of punch clocks in 1888 by Willard L. Bundy. Industrial timekeeping began with responsibilities to record worker attendance and hours, manage payroll data and ensure compliance with emerging labor laws.

Timekeepers Today

Nowadays timekeepers remain important in today's economy working across numerous sectors with evolving responsibilities.

Most direct time keeping needs are in sports. Modern sports timekeepers use sophisticated technology including photofinish cameras capturing 10,000 images per second and computer vision systems. During Rio 2016 Olympic Games as the official timekeeper, Omega, used 450 tons of state-of-the-art equipment, 180 kilometres of cable and optical fibre and all of this was operated by no fewer than 480 timekeepers supported by more than 800 trained volunteers.

In the industry, time keeping is the focus of Human Resources’ departments. US Bureau Of Labor Statistics shows that over 157,000 “payroll and timekeeping” clerks, work in the United States as of 2023.

Public Speaking

Timekeeping plays a critical role in public speaking clubs like Toastmasters and debating societies such as the Oxford Union serving as an essential mechanism for maintaining order, fairness, and professionalism in verbal discourse.

In Toastmasters clubs, the timekeeper is often the first role assigned to new members, responsible for monitoring all meeting segments using a stopwatch and colored signal cards (green, amber, red) to indicate remaining time. The timekeeper provides timing signals at predetermined intervals - typically showing green at the minimum time, amber at the target time, and red at the maximum time - with a 30-second grace period before ringing a bell to signal the speaker must conclude.

In formal debating societies, particularly those following British Parliamentary style used at Oxford and other universities, timekeeping takes on even greater precision and complexity. The timekeeper's role extends beyond simple time monitoring to include signaling the end of protected time through table knocking or bell ringing, ensuring fair debate procedures where speakers can introduce and conclude their arguments without interruption.

Web Timers

The timekeeper profession has evolved from ancient temple priests tracking celestial movements to modern digital specialists managing global workforce data. The tools and techniques have transformed dramatically over years. Most recently, Covid in 2019 sparked the popularity of web-based tools since many business and public activities went online. Timekeeper provides web-based shareable clocks - a timer and a stopwatch that could be best used during public speaking, debating activities and public events.