lock-makers developed their art in various ways. Building smaller clocks was a technical challenge, as was improving accuracy and reliability. Clocks could be impressive showpieces to demonstrate skilled craftsmanship, or less expensive, mass-produced items for domestic use. The escapement in particular was an important factor affecting clock's accuracy, so many different mechanisms were tried.

Spring-driven clocks were developed during the 17th century, and this gave the clock-makers

many new problems to solve, such as how to compensate for the changing power supplied as the spring unwound. The first record of a minute hand on a clock is 1475, in the Almanus Manuscript of Brother Paul.

During the 15th and 16th centuries, clock-making flourished, particularly in the metalworking towns of Nuremberg and Augsburg, and in France, Blois. Some of the more basic table clocks have only one time-keeping hand, with the dial between the hour markers being divided into four equal parts making the clocks readable to the nearest 15 minutes. Other clocks were exhibitions of craftsmanship and skill, incorporating astronomical indicators and musical movements. The cross-beat escapement was developed in 1585 by Jost Burgi, who also developed the remontoire. Burgi's accurate clocks helped Tycho Brahe to observe astronomical events with much greater precision than before. The first record of a second hand on a clock is about 1560, on a clock now in the Fremersdorf collection. However, this clock could not have been accurate, and the second hand was probably for indicating that the clock was working, according to the French Rococo bracket clocks, (Museum of Time, Besancon).