INVENTOR

Peter Henlein

1479 - 1542

Photo of Peter Henlein

Icon of person Peter Henlein

Peter Henlein (also spelled Henle or Hele) (1485 - August 1542), a locksmith, clockmaker, and watchmaker of Nuremberg, Germany, is often considered the inventor of the watch. He was one of the first craftsmen to make small ornamental portable clocks which were often worn as pendants or attached to clothing, and which are regarded as the first watches. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Peter Henlein has received more than 454,825 page views. His biography is available in 23 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 22 in 2019). Peter Henlein is the 155th most popular inventor (up from 174th in 2019), the 1,880th most popular biography from Germany (up from 2,056th in 2019) and the 19th most popular German Inventor.

Memorability Metrics

  • 450k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 57.12

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 23

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 4.61

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 2.80

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among INVENTORS

Among inventors, Peter Henlein ranks 155 out of 426Before him are Viktor Schauberger, Bob Kahn, Jang Yeong-sil, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville, Alfred Vail, and Gideon Sundback. After him are Heinrich Göbel, Fausto Veranzio, Mikhail Dolivo-Dobrovolsky, Garrett Morgan, William Murdoch, and Hovannes Adamian.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1479, Peter Henlein ranks 7Before him are Joanna of Castile, Hafsa Sultan, Lisa del Giocondo, Vasili III of Russia, Giuliano de' Medici, Duke of Nemours, and Diego Columbus. After him are Guru Amar Das, Ippolito d'Este, Vallabha, Francisco de Montejo, Henry V, Duke of Mecklenburg, and Philip I, Margrave of Baden. Among people deceased in 1542, Peter Henlein ranks 10Before him are James V of Scotland, Lapu-Lapu, Hernando de Soto, Dosso Dossi, Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford, and Sayyida al Hurra. After him are Thomas Wyatt, Malik Muhammad Jayasi, Cristóvão da Gama, Diego de Almagro II, Nikolaus Federmann, and Girolamo Aleandro.

Others Born in 1479

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Others Deceased in 1542

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In Germany

Among people born in Germany, Peter Henlein ranks 1,880 out of 7,253Before him are George Victor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1831), Hermann Paul (1846), Albert Leo Schlageter (1894), Wilhelm Ohnesorge (1872), Hans-Gert Pöttering (1945), and Theodore of Corsica (1694). After him are Johann Gottfried Schadow (1764), Monika Ertl (1937), Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1861), Wolfgang Sawallisch (1923), Otto Braun (1900), and Ludwig Fischer (1905).

Among INVENTORS In Germany

Among inventors born in Germany, Peter Henlein ranks 19Before him are Johann Philipp Reis (1834), Alfred Krupp (1812), Theobald Boehm (1794), Johann Jacob Schweppe (1740), Hugo Schmeisser (1884), and Uziel Gal (1923). After him are Heinrich Göbel (1818), Johann Nicolaus von Dreyse (1787), Siegfried Marcus (1831), Johann Nepomuk Maelzel (1772), Henrich Focke (1890), and Heinrich Daniel Ruhmkorff (1803).