There is no single known inventor of the mechanized (mechanical) clock; instead, it emerged in late‑13th‑century Europe from the work of multiple anonymous craftsmen, while earlier clocklike mechanisms were developed in China.
Early Chinese mechanisms
Chinese engineers created sophisticated water-powered astronomical clock towers well before European mechanical clocks, using geared mechanisms and escapements to regulate time. Figures such as the monk I‑Xing in the 8th century and the statesman Su Song in the 11th century built hydromechanical clocks that combined flowing water with gears and indicators, but these are considered precursors rather than fully weight‑driven mechanical clocks.
Medieval European development
Most historians date the appearance of truly mechanical, weight‑driven clocks with escapements to around 1275 in medieval Europe, particularly in monastic and church settings. These early tower clocks, installed in churches and town squares, rang bells to mark the hours and were built by skilled but largely unnamed clockmakers, so no single individual can be credited as “the” inventor.
Attributed individuals
For a time, some scholars and later writers credited Gerbert of Aurillac (later Pope Sylvester II, 10th century) with inventing an early form of mechanical clock, but this attribution is debated and not widely accepted as the origin of the standard medieval mechanical clock. Later advances, such as Christiaan Huygens’s pendulum clock in 1656, greatly improved accuracy but did not constitute the original invention of mechanized timekeeping.
