a manmade clock now dictating time in europe christian monks are credited with inventing the first mechanical clock more than six hundred years ago so as not to miss pratt times before that they'd used candles when the we could burn down a falling metal bar the monks up. but this method of timekeeping sparked many a monastery fire meanwhile merchants in milan florence and venice were quick to spot the benefits of mechanical timekeeping it meant optimized business management and higher profits the american inventor and later founding father benjamin franklin coined the term time is money in seven hundred forty eight the clock became the heart rate of the industrial revolution. it meant exact working hours and in the banking enabled the concept of futures trading money became a time factor. but initially the time wasn't the same everywhere not even in villages a few kilometers apart train drivers and passengers had to adjust their pocket