Eli5: Historically, time during the night was measured by ‘watches’; eg. First watch, Second watch, etc. How did people determine when one watch ended and the next began?

Question

It can’t be influenced by the moon or stars in the sky, because how would they measure the time during a moonless cloudy night?

Edit: How would, say, 3 common travellers camping on the road measure time at night?

In: 38

Answer 1

As far back as the ancient greeks we have timekeeping devices that don’t rely on the sun. Typically, candles or giant tubs of water calibrated to burn out or drain over a certain amount of time.