How Did People Tell Time Before Clocks?

Your character needs to be somewhere "at three o'clock." But wait. Your medieval fantasy world doesn't have clocks. Nobody's wearing a watch. There are no clock towers chiming the hour (yet, maybe later in history). So how do they know when three o'clock is?

Or you write "two hours later" and realize you don't know how your characters would measure that. Do they have hourglasses? Sundials? Are they just guessing based on the sun? And how precise can they actually be?

Modern readers think in clock time without realizing it. We say "meet at 3:15" and expect precision. But for most of human history, that level of exactness didn't exist and wasn't needed. Understanding how people actually told time before modern clocks makes your worldbuilding more authentic and creates interesting constraints and opportunities in your story.

Why Time Was Different Before Clocks

Mechanical clocks didn't become common until 14th century, and even then were rare and expensive. Portable watches came much later. For most of history, people estimated time by natural signs and rarely needed precision.

**Time was approximate**: "Around midday" not "12:15." "Before sunset" not "6:47 PM." Most activities didn't require exact timing.

**Time was local**: Each place determined "noon" by when sun was highest in their location. No time zones. "Noon" in one city was slightly different from "noon" in city 50 miles away.

**Time was flexible**: Hours weren't always equal length. Daytime and nighttime were each divided into 12 hours, so summer "hours" were longer than winter "hours" because days were longer.

**Precision was rare**: Only needed for religious observance (monks praying at set times), astronomy, or elaborate time measurement devices in wealthy courts. Common people rarely dealt in precise time.

Methods for Telling Time

Different contexts used different methods. Match timekeeping to your setting's technology and social structure.

Sun Position (Most Common)

Everyone could estimate time by looking at sun's position in sky.

**Sunrise**: Day begins. Time to wake and start work.

**Morning**: Sun rising, before it's overhead. Early morning vs. late morning distinction based on sun height.

**Midday/Noon**: Sun directly overhead (highest point). Obvious marker. Often time for main meal or rest.

**Afternoon**: Sun descending but still daylight. Early afternoon vs. late afternoon by sun angle.

**Sunset**: Day ends. Time to stop work, return home, prepare for night.

**Night**: Divided roughly into early night, middle of night, late night/before dawn. Less precise because can't see sun.

This gives rough time sense accurate to within an hour or so. Good enough for most purposes.

**Show in writing**: "The sun was halfway to its zenith." "By the sun's angle, midday had passed an hour ago." "When the sun touched the horizon."

Sundials

Device with stick (gnomon) casting shadow on marked surface. Shadow's position indicates time.

**Accuracy**: Quite accurate (within 15-30 minutes) on sunny days. Doesn't work at night or in cloudy weather.

**Location**: Fixed in place. Each sundial calibrated for its specific latitude. Travelers can't take accurate sundial with them.

**Who used**: Monasteries, wealthy households, city centers, scholars. Not common item for average person.

**Limitations**: Only works in sun. Useless indoors, at night, cloudy days. Seasonal adjustments needed because sun's path changes.

**Show in writing**: "She checked the sundial in the courtyard. The shadow pointed to mid-afternoon." "He waited by the sundial, watching the shadow creep toward the agreed mark."

Church/Monastery Bells

In cities and towns with churches or monasteries, bells rang at set times, structuring everyone's day.

**Canonical hours**: Religious communities prayed at set times and rang bells to mark them. Even non-religious people used these as time markers.

**Main bell times** (approximate modern equivalents, varied by season and location):

**Matins**: Midnight or pre-dawn
**Lauds**: Dawn/sunrise
**Prime**: Early morning (~6 AM)
**Terce**: Mid-morning (~9 AM)
**Sext**: Midday/noon
**None**: Mid-afternoon (~3 PM)
**Vespers**: Evening (~6 PM)
**Compline**: Bedtime (~9 PM)

People referenced these: "Meet me after Terce" or "Before the Vespers bell."

**Urban vs. Rural**: Cities with churches had this structure. Rural areas without bells relied more on sun and natural rhythms.

**Show in writing**: "The Sext bell rang, calling monks to prayer and workers to midday meal." "He had until Vespers to finish." "Three bells had rung since dawn; it was mid-morning."

Candle Clocks

Marked candles that burn at known rate. Marks on candle show passage of time as wax burns down.

**Accuracy**: Moderate. Depends on consistent candle quality and burning conditions. Wind, draft, candle composition affect burn rate.

**Use**: Indoor timekeeping, often at night when sundials don't work. Monasteries, wealthy households, guards on night watch.

**Duration**: One candle might be marked to last 3-4 hours. Multiple candles needed for full night.

**Show in writing**: "The candle had burned past the third mark; two hours remained until dawn." "She lit the marked candle to time the ritual."

Water Clocks (Clepsydra)

Water drips from one container to another at steady rate. Water level indicates time passed.

**Accuracy**: Fairly accurate. Better than candles, not as good as sundials.

**Use**: Monasteries, courts, scholarly settings. Expensive and delicate. Required maintenance and refilling.

**Advantages**: Works day and night, indoors, any weather. More consistent than candles.

**Show in writing**: "The water clock in the library showed three hours had passed." "He checked the clepsydra, ensuring the water still dripped steadily."

Sand Timers/Hourglasses

Sand flows from upper chamber to lower. When empty, flip to start again. Measures specific duration.

**Accuracy**: Good for measuring set time period (one hour, 30 minutes, whatever it's calibrated for).

**Limitation**: Only measures one duration. Must be flipped to continue. Doesn't tell you what time it is, just that a period has elapsed.

**Use**: Ships (for navigation), kitchens (timing cooking), meetings (limiting speeches), medical treatments (timing procedures).

**Show in writing**: "She turned the sand timer. When the sand ran out, the medicine had steeped enough." "The hourglass emptied; his hour was up."

Natural Signs

Experienced people read environmental cues for approximate time:

**Morning dew**: Heavy dew = early morning. Dried dew = later morning.

**Animal behavior**: Roosters crow at dawn. Birds sing differently at different times. Animals feed at certain hours.

**Plant behavior**: Some flowers open at specific times. Leaves turn toward or away from sun at different hours.

**Light quality**: Distinct color and quality to dawn light vs. midday vs. dusk. Experienced observers recognize these.

**Temperature**: Coolest just before dawn, warmest mid-afternoon, cooling at evening. Rough indicator in stable weather.

**Stars and moon**: At night, position of stars/moon indicates time. Requires knowledge of astronomy.

**Show in writing**: "The dew had dried from the grass; it was well past dawn." "By the angle of the light and the birds' evening songs, sunset was an hour away."

How to Write Time References

Use historically appropriate language and concepts.

Avoid Modern Clock Time

**Don't write**: "Meet me at 3 PM." "It was 10:47." "In 15 minutes."

These are clock-based references that didn't exist. Nobody said "PM" (post meridiem) in casual speech, and certainly not specific minutes.

Use Relative Time

**Do write**: "Meet me mid-afternoon." "When the sun is three hands above the horizon." "After the midday meal." "Before Vespers." "At sunset."

Relative to sun position, bells, meals, or other events.

Durations in Practical Terms

**Don't write**: "It took 43 minutes." "They waited for 2 hours and 20 minutes."

**Do write**: "It took nearly an hour." "They waited half the afternoon." "About the time it takes to walk two miles." "As long as it takes to cook a roast."

Measure duration by familiar activities or rough fractions (quarter-hour, half-hour if using hourglasses; otherwise just "a while," "a long while," "most of the morning").

Sun Hand Measurements

Hold arm straight out, fingers horizontal. Each finger width equals ~15 minutes of time based on sun's movement. Four fingers (hand width) = one hour.

"Two hands above horizon" = two hours until sunset. Practical method anyone could use.

**Show in writing**: "The sun was three hands from setting. They had perhaps two hours of light left."

Seasonal Time

"Hour" wasn't always same length. Day and night each divided into 12 hours, so summer daytime hours were longer than summer nighttime hours (and vice versa in winter).

Most people didn't worry about this. It was just understood that "sixth hour of day" (noon) was whenever sun was highest, regardless of season.

For simplicity in fiction, you can ignore this complexity unless writing very historically detailed work. Just acknowledge that "hours" are approximate.

Daily Rhythms and Schedules

Structure time around natural rhythms and social patterns.

Agricultural Day

Farmers and rural people worked by sun and seasons:

**Dawn**: Wake, morning chores (feed animals, milk cows), breakfast.

**Morning**: Field work. Heavy labor while cool and energy is high.

**Midday**: Main meal. Rest during heat of day (in hot climates) or continue work (in cool climates).

**Afternoon**: Continue work. Lighter tasks as day wanes.

**Sunset**: Return home, evening chores, supper, bed soon after dark (candles expensive, nothing to do in darkness).

Structured by work requirements and sun, not precise times.

Monastic Day

Monasteries had most structured schedules, organized around prayer times:

Bells rang for each prayer service. All activities scheduled between these fixed points. Highly regulated compared to secular life.

Even people outside monastery used these bells to structure their day in towns with religious communities.

Urban Day

City dwellers had more varied schedules but still sun-based:

**Markets opened at dawn.** Shops operated during daylight. Taverns and inns stayed open after dark (they could afford candles/lamps).

**Curfew bells**: Many cities rang bell at night signaling curfew (usually 8-9 PM equivalent). After curfew, good citizens were expected to be home. Guards questioned those out late.

**Work hours**: Crafts and trades worked dawn to dusk during busy seasons. Guild regulations sometimes specified hours.

Appointments Were Approximate

Meeting times were general: "morning," "after midday," "before sunset." Showing up within an hour of agreed time was fine. Precision wasn't expected for social meetings.

For important events (court sessions, ceremonies), more specific time might be set ("at the third bell" / Terce) and people expected to be punctual. But still measured in bell rings or sun position, not minutes.

Special Time Measurement Situations

Navigation and Travel

Sailors used sun position, stars, and sand timers (ship's bells rang each time sand timer emptied, marking watches).

Land travelers estimated distance by time: "three days' walk," "two days' ride." Time and distance were interrelated.

"Three days' journey" was standard way to express distance. Precise miles mattered less than how long it took to get there.

Medical Timing

Physicians timed pulses, treatments, medication intervals. Used water clocks or counted breaths/heartbeats for precision.

"Take medicine every quarter day" (every six hours) or "when sun rises and when it sets" (twice daily).

Military and Guards

**Watches**: Guard duty divided into watches. Each watch was several hours. Bells or signals marked watch changes.

**Night watch**: Night divided into thirds or quarters. "First watch," "middle watch," "last watch." Different guards on duty each period.

Used hourglasses, candle clocks, or counting stars' positions to know when to change.

Cooking and Crafts

Timed by observation and experience, not clocks:

"Bake until golden." "Simmer while you say three prayers." "Let rise until doubled." "Forge until metal glows orange."

Professional knowledge of how long processes take, checked by observation rather than timers.

Time and Magic

If your fantasy has magic, consider how it interacts with time measurement.

Magical Timekeeping

Could have magical clocks that work better than mechanical ones: crystal that glows different colors at different times, spells that announce hours, enchanted hourglasses that never need flipping.

Make these rare and expensive unless you want widespread precise time in your world. Otherwise you lose historical feel.

Spells With Durations

If spell lasts "one hour," how do characters know when it expires?

**Options**: Spell itself has timer feel (fading sensation when it's about to end). Caster can sense it. Or it just expires and caster estimates based on natural time sense.

Don't assume characters can precisely measure spell duration unless they have tools or magical means to do so.

Time Magic

If magic affects time itself (slowing, speeding, stopping), make sure characters still have believable way to perceive and measure these changes.

Common Mistakes

Modern Clock Language

Characters saying "It's 3:15" or "Meet me at 10 AM" in medieval setting. These specific times and AM/PM language are modern inventions.

Fix: Use relative references to sun, bells, or activities. "Mid-afternoon," "After the morning bell," "Before midday."

Impossible Precision

"Exactly 47 minutes later" or "They had 12 minutes to escape." This level of precision didn't exist for common people.

Fix: "Nearly an hour later" or "They had perhaps a quarter-hour." Approximate, not exact.

Universal Time

Character travels from one city to another and times match perfectly. In reality, each place determined noon locally. "Noon" in one city was slightly different time than "noon" elsewhere.

Usually doesn't matter for story, but acknowledge if characters need to coordinate across distances that this is difficult without standardized time.

Night Precision

Characters knowing exact time in middle of night with no visible timer. Without candle clock, water clock, or stargazing knowledge, night time is very approximate.

Fix: "Deep into the night" or "before dawn" rather than specific hours after dark.

Forgetting Seasonal Variation

"Sunset at 6 PM" year-round. In reality, sunset time varies dramatically by season.

If using sun for timing, acknowledge summer vs. winter differences in day length.

When Precision Matters

Most medieval life didn't require exact timing. But sometimes it does matter to your plot.

Creating Time Pressure

If characters must do something by specific time, establish how they're measuring it:

"By sunset" - everyone can see sun's position. Creates shared deadline.

"Before the bell rings" - clear audio signal. Characters wait tensely listening for bell.

"When candle burns to mark" - visible timer creates tension as wax diminishes.

The measurement method becomes part of the scene. Characters check sun anxiously, watch candle, listen for bell.

Coordinating Actions

If multiple groups must act simultaneously:

"When bell rings, attack." Everyone hears same signal.

"At dawn." Visible to everyone, though slightly imprecise (first light vs. sun cresting horizon).

Pre-arranged duration: "Wait until candle burns out, then proceed." Everyone has identical candle.

Coordination without clocks is harder and creates plot opportunities (timing failures, miscommunications).

Making It Feel Natural

Don't over-explain timekeeping methods. Show characters using them naturally:

**Bad**: "Since they didn't have clocks, they used the sun to tell time by measuring its position in the sky."

**Good**: "He glanced at the sun. Mid-morning. She'd be at the market by now."

Characters know their world. They don't think about how they tell time any more than modern people think about how watches work. They just use available methods naturally.

Vary your time references: sun position one scene, bells another, natural signs in rural setting, candle clock indoors at night. This shows the range of methods without explaining them.

Simplifying for Readers

Historical time measurement was complex and varied. For fiction, you can simplify while maintaining authentic feel:

**Use sun for outdoors**, bells for cities, rough divisions (morning/afternoon/evening) for general timing. That covers 90% of situations.

**Let "hours" be approximate**. Don't worry about seasonal hour length variation unless writing very technical historical fiction.

**Trust readers to adjust**. They understand your medieval world doesn't have cell phones with time displays. They'll accept "around midday" instead of "12:17."

When to Diverge

You're writing fantasy, not history textbook. Sometimes modern convenience serves story better than historical accuracy.

If precise timing is crucial to your plot and historical vagueness would be frustrating, give your world better timekeeping: common mechanical clocks, magical time devices, whatever works.

Just be consistent. If characters have pocket watches, everyone should. If time is vague and approximate, keep it that way throughout.

Making Time Matter

Good timekeeping worldbuilding adds authenticity without being obtrusive. Characters reference sun, bells, meals, and natural rhythms instead of clock hours. Time is approximate unless specific measurement tools are present and mentioned. Coordination and deadlines work differently when precision is limited.

This creates realistic texture and interesting constraints. Your characters can't just "set meeting for 2:30." They have to use landmarks, natural signs, visible signals. This makes time feel different, which reinforces that your world is not modern, even if readers don't consciously notice why it feels authentic.

Get the details right and time becomes invisible worldbuilding that supports immersion. Get it wrong and modern clock language keeps pulling readers out with anachronism. It's worth the thought to make time work the way it actually would in your world.