The public clocks and social unification of time in México City, 1882-1922

Abstract

This research focuses on the debates, conflicts and proposals that generated
around the proliferation of public clocks in México City between the years 1882
and 1922. Despite the proliferation of these machines, the possibilities of citizens
to know the exact time was complicated by a number of problems detailed in the
text. Facing these difficulties, scientist, journalists and public officials reacted by
asking the unification  of time, that is, the creation of a political and social conven-
tion that would establish a single time for all the Mexican capital. The objective
of this work is to establish the ambiguities and intricacies of this process of time
standardization, due both to state as to civil society interests, and that, at the same
time, involved aspects of positivist modernization while appealing to traditional
elements. Demographic and spatial constitution of México City has been a topic
addressed by historians, however, this research attempts to look at the construc-
tion of a temporary experience in the city, which so far has not been explored.