The Grand Tour of Time · 109 stops · nine ages

The Grand Tour of Time

Tick, the guide, says: Play the game in the app, or start reading here.

109 stops. Every one fact-checked, every one playable.

From a 42,000-year-old tally bone to the atomic clock: the real story behind every chapter of WORN's in-app Grand Tour.

Play in WORN Get WORN on the App Store
Every dot is a stop, coloured by age; a badge counts the stops in one place; a ring marks a drawn page. Follow the list below to read one. Coastlines from Natural Earth, public domain; drawn for WORN.

Age I · 10 stops

Before Clocks

Bones, pits and stones that counted the sky

  1. 1c. 42,000 years ago · Border CaveThe Bone With Twenty-Nine CutsFact rating: Speculativedrawn page, with notes and diagrams
  2. 2c. 20,000 years ago · IshangoThree Columns by the LakeFact rating: Speculativedrawn page, with notes and diagrams
  3. 3c. 17,000 years ago · LascauxThe Dots Under the StagFact rating: Speculative
  4. 4c. 8000 BCE · Warren FieldTwelve Pits and a ResetFact rating: Debated
  5. 5c. 5000 BCE · Nabta PlayaWaiting for the Rains in the SaharaFact rating: Established
  6. 6c. 4900 BCE · GoseckTwo Gates Aimed at MidwinterFact rating: Debated
  7. 7c. 3100 BCE · MnajdraA Doorway Built for the EquinoxFact rating: Established
  8. 8c. 3200 BCE · NewgrangeSeventeen Minutes of Midwinter LightFact rating: Established
  9. 9c. 2500 BCE · StonehengeThe Stones Did Not All Come From WalesFact rating: Myth
  10. 10c. 1600 BCE · NebraA Bronze Sky You Could HoldFact rating: Debated

Age II · 12 stops

The First Hours

Egypt, Babylon, Greece and Rome divide the day

  1. 11c. 2500 BCE · MemphisThe Star That Announced the FloodFact rating: Established
  2. 12c. 2100 BCE · AsyutA Star Table Painted Inside a Coffin LidFact rating: Accepteddrawn page, with notes and diagrams
  3. 13c. 1450 BCE · ThebesA Clock You Had to Turn Around at NoonFact rating: Accepted
  4. 14c. 1380 BCE · KarnakTelling Time After the Sun Goes DownFact rating: Accepted
  5. 15c. 700 BCE · BabylonWhy Your Hour Has Sixty MinutesFact rating: Speculative
  6. 16c. 400 BCE · AthensThe Jar That Timed a TrialFact rating: Established
  7. 17c. 300 BCE · ChankilloThirteen Towers on the HorizonFact rating: Accepted
  8. 18c. 270 BCE · AlexandriaThe Clock That Regulated ItselfFact rating: Accepted
  9. 19263 BCE · RomeThe Sundial Rome Followed for 99 Years, and Got It WrongFact rating: Established
  10. 20c. 150 BCE · AntikytheraInside the 2,000-Year-Old Machine That Predicted EclipsesFact rating: Accepted
  11. 2146 BCE · RomeThe Year Julius Caesar Made 445 Days LongFact rating: Established
  12. 2236 BCE · Chiapa de CorzoThe Calendar That Didn't Predict the End of the WorldFact rating: Myth

Age III · 12 stops

Hours of the World

Prayer, harvest and stars set the hours from India to Aotearoa

  1. 23499 CE · KusumapuraThe 23-Year-Old Who Said the Earth Spins, Not the SkyFact rating: Debated
  2. 24c. 500 CE · UjjainThe Copper Bowl That Measured Time by SinkingFact rating: Established
  3. 25c. 530 CE · Monte CassinoWhy Monks Prayed Eight Times a Day, Even at NightFact rating: Established
  4. 26c. 638 CE · MedinaWhy Ramadan Never Falls on the Same Day TwiceFact rating: Established
  5. 27671 CE · ŌtsuThe Water Clock That Gave Japan Its Time DayFact rating: Established
  6. 28725 CE · LuoyangDid a Bronze Sky in Tang China Hide the First Escapement?Fact rating: Debated
  7. 29807 CE · AachenThe Clock That Amazed Charlemagne's CourtFact rating: Established
  8. 30c. 880 CE · WinchesterKing Alfred's Candles Weren't the First Clock of Their KindFact rating: Myth
  9. 31c. 900 CE · Chichén ItzáThe Maya Calendar That Took 52 Years to Repeat ItselfFact rating: Legend
  10. 32c. 1050 CE · Chaco CanyonThe Rock Slabs That Turn Sunlight Into a CalendarFact rating: Debated
  11. 33c. 1300 · CairoThe Astronomer Whose Job Was to Watch the Sky, Not SingFact rating: Myth
  12. 34c. 1300s · AotearoaThe Star Cluster That Starts the Māori New YearFact rating: Established

Age IV · 11 stops

The First Machines

Water wheels, falling weights and the first escapements

  1. 351090s · KaifengThe Clock Tower Nobody Could RebuildFact rating: Establisheddrawn page, with notes and diagrams
  2. 361206 · DiyarbakırThe Clock That Hid Inside an ElephantFact rating: Established
  3. 371276 · DengfengThe Tower That Measured a Year to the MinuteFact rating: Established
  4. 38c. 1336 · MilanThe Bell That Made Every Hour the Same LengthFact rating: Established
  5. 391357 · FezThe Clock House That Kept Time It No Longer RemembersFact rating: Established
  6. 401364 · PaduaA Clock That Put the Whole Sky on One TableFact rating: Myth
  7. 41c. 1386 · SalisburyThe Clock With No Face, Only a VoiceFact rating: Debated
  8. 42c. 1390 · WellsThe Knights Who Have Jousted for Six Hundred Years (Almost)Fact rating: Accepted
  9. 431410 · PragueThe Clock the City Blamed on a BlindingFact rating: Legend
  10. 441434 · HanyangThe Clock That Struck Itself, Built by a Man Born EnslavedFact rating: Established
  11. 451434 · HanyangA Sundial Anyone Could Read, Even Without ReadingFact rating: Established

Age V · 10 stops

Carrying Time

Watches, hourglasses at sea, and a calendar that lost ten days

  1. 46c. 1505 · NurembergThe Watch That Was Never Shaped Like an EggFact rating: Mythdrawn page, with notes and diagrams
  2. 47c. 1500 · CuscoA Calendar Made of MountainsFact rating: Myth
  3. 481519 · Atlantic OceanThe Boy Whose Job Was Turning Over the SandFact rating: Established
  4. 491522 · Cape VerdeThe Day That Went Missing Somewhere Over the PacificFact rating: Established
  5. 50c. 1560 · GenevaHow a Ban on Jewellery Built an IndustryFact rating: Debated
  6. 511577 · IstanbulThe Astronomer Who Needed to Count in Fifths of a MinuteFact rating: Establisheddrawn page, with notes and diagrams
  7. 521582 · RomeThe October That Lost Ten DaysFact rating: Myth
  8. 53c. 1585 · KasselThe Clockmaker Who Made Two Arms Fight Each OtherFact rating: Accepted
  9. 541601 · BeijingThe Gift That Let a Missionary StayFact rating: Established
  10. 551602 · PaduaThe Swing Galileo Almost FinishedFact rating: Myth

Age VI · 12 stops

Precision

Pendulums, springs and the race for longitude

  1. 561657 · The HagueThe Clock That Finally Told the TruthFact rating: Legend
  2. 571675 · ParisA Watch That Could Finally Leave the WallFact rating: Debated
  3. 581676 · GreenwichTwo Clocks That Proved the Earth Keeps TimeFact rating: Established
  4. 59c. 1681 · La SagneThe Legend of the Boy Who Fixed a WatchFact rating: Legend
  5. 601687 · LondonThe Watch That Chimed the Time in the DarkFact rating: Established
  6. 611707 · Isles of ScillyThe Wreck That Made Longitude an EmergencyFact rating: Established
  7. 621721 · LondonThe Jar of Mercury That Beat the SeasonsFact rating: Established
  8. 63c. 1726 · Barrow upon HumberNine Rods, Two Metals, One Steady BeatFact rating: Established
  9. 641734 · JaipurThe Sundial the Size of a BuildingFact rating: Debated
  10. 651761 · LondonThe Watch That Crossed an Ocean and Barely NoticedFact rating: Myth
  11. 661773 · TahitiOur Trusty Friend the WatchFact rating: Established
  12. 671774 · La Chaux-de-FondsThe Boy Who Wrote With a Program, Not a MindFact rating: Accepted

Age VII · 18 stops

The Watchmakers

Tourbillons, chronographs and time for the railways

  1. 681790 · ParisThe Watch That Was Never Supposed to Survive a FallFact rating: Legend
  2. 691793 · ParisThe Ten-Hour Day That Didn't Survive the RevolutionFact rating: Established
  3. 70c. 1800 · EdoThe Clock That Stretched With the SeasonsFact rating: Established
  4. 71c. 1800 · BeijingThe Alarm Clock Made of SmokeFact rating: Established
  5. 721801 · ParisThe Spinning Cage Built to Outsmart GravityFact rating: Debated
  6. 731810 · NaplesThe Queen's Watch on a Bracelet of Hair and GoldFact rating: Myth
  7. 741821 · ParisThe Watch That Wrote Its Own Time in InkFact rating: Debated
  8. 751833 · GreenwichThe Ball That Told a Thousand Ships the HourFact rating: Accepted
  9. 761830s · GenevaThe Escapement Almost Every Watch Still UsesFact rating: Myth
  10. 771843 · StrasbourgThe Clock That Calculates Easter by ItselfFact rating: Established
  11. 781845 · GenevaThe Crown That Made the Watch Key ObsoleteFact rating: Debated
  12. 791845 · GlashütteHow One Watchmaker Rebuilt a Dying Mining TownFact rating: Established
  13. 801852 · BristolThe Clock with Two Minute Hands, Ten Minutes ApartFact rating: Established
  14. 811854 · WalthamThe Factory Where Every Part Fit Every WatchFact rating: Established
  15. 821859 · LondonHow a Handful of Old Pennies Keeps Big Ben on TimeFact rating: Myth
  16. 831883 · ChicagoThe Day Chicago Lived Through Noon TwiceFact rating: Mythdrawn page, with notes and diagrams
  17. 841884 · WashingtonThe Vote That Made Greenwich the Center of TimeFact rating: Established
  18. 851891 · KiptonThe Wreck That Standardized the Railroad WatchFact rating: Established

Age VIII · 13 stops

The Wristwatch

Time moves to the wrist: pilots, divers and the Moon

  1. 861904 · ParisThe Watch a Pilot Needed Both Hands To AvoidFact rating: Debated
  2. 871910 · ParisThe Radio Tower That Saved Itself by Telling TimeFact rating: Accepted
  3. 881916 · BerlinThe Hour Nobody Actually SavedFact rating: Myth
  4. 891916 · Western FrontThe War That Put the Watch on the Wrist for GoodFact rating: Accepted
  5. 901923 · DouglasThe Watch That Wound Itself as You WalkedFact rating: Established
  6. 911927 · English ChannelThe Swim That Didn't Finish, and the Watch That DidFact rating: Myth
  7. 921931 · IndiaThe Watch That Turned Its Back on PoloFact rating: Legend
  8. 931953 · ToulonSet It Once, Trust It All the Way DownFact rating: Established
  9. 941955 · New YorkTwo Clocks on One Wrist, Five Time Zones ApartFact rating: Established
  10. 951956 · GenevaThe Cage That Kept Time Steady Near a Giant MagnetFact rating: Established
  11. 961957 · LancasterThe Watch That Traded Its Mainspring for a BatteryFact rating: Established
  12. 971960 · New YorkThe Wristwatch That Hummed Instead of TickingFact rating: Established
  13. 981970 · Apollo 13Fourteen Seconds, Timed on a Wrist, That Brought Three Men HomeFact rating: Myth

Age IX · 11 stops

The Modern Second

Atoms, crystals, satellites and your own wrist

  1. 991955 · TeddingtonWhere the Second Stopped Belonging to the SkyFact rating: Mythdrawn page, with notes and diagrams
  2. 1001969 · TokyoThe Watch That Cost as Much as a Small Car, and Changed EverythingFact rating: Accepted
  3. 1011972 · New YorkPress the Button, See the Time, Save the BatteryFact rating: Established
  4. 1021972 · SèvresThe Night the World's Clocks Counted a Second That Had Never HappenedFact rating: Accepted
  5. 1031983 · GrenchenThe Watch Built From Fifty-One Parts That Helped Save an IndustryFact rating: Myth
  6. 1041990 · MainflingenThe Watch That Sets Itself, Listening to a Signal From FrankfurtFact rating: Established
  7. 1051995 · Colorado SpringsThe Clocks That Have to Run Slow on PurposeFact rating: Accepted
  8. 1061999 · ShiojiriA Spring That Never Ticks, Braked by a CrystalFact rating: Established
  9. 1072001 · Le LocleThe Watch Part Cut Like a Computer ChipFact rating: Established
  10. 1082020 · TokyoThe Clock So Precise It Could Feel You Standing UpFact rating: Established
  11. 109Today · Your wristEvery Idea in This Tour, Ticking on One WristFact rating: Established