The wonderful world of watches and clocks is often a fascinating one, and aside from beautiful timepieces with loads of cool features, there are lots of things that you probably didn’t know about the history and inner-workings of timepieces. So, without further ado, here are 4 watch facts that you probably didn’t know:

4 Watch Facts You (Probably) Didn’t Know

1. When displayed in shops, watches are usually pre-set to a specific time, that time? Ten minutes past ten, or ten minutes to two, a time that is known as ‘happy time’ as it makes the hands on the watch look like a smiley face. This, in turn, encourages the customer to be in a good mood, which raises the chance of them making a purchase.

2. The first watch to be sent into space was a Russian ‘Pobeda’ watch from the Petrodvorets Watch Factory. The watch was placed on a dog called Chernuchka’s wrist without authorisation and was sent on a single orbit on the space ship Korabl-Sputnik 4 on the 9^th March 1961.

3. It is thought that humans measured time via the current sexagesimal system (the numerical system we use which uses the number sixty as a base) as far back as 2000 BC. The Egyptians would divide the day into two cycles of twelve hours each, and use sundials to measure daytime and water clocks for the night time.

4. The uni-directional bezel that is found on dive watches is included as a safety feature to prevent any accidental knocks or bumps from altering the elapsed dive time. The bezel will only turn anti-clockwise which means that any bumps underwater won’t alter the dive time and confuse the diver into thinking they have more oxygen than they really have.