The technological history of navigation and that of time measurement have proceeded side-by-side for centuries and have interacted one upon the other. Improvements in navigation sensors have stimulated corresponding improvements in chronology and, more recently, improvements in the technology of time measurement and frequency control have in turn stimulated developments in navigation techniques.

Prior to the seventeenth century the available methods of time measurement were very crude but, in terms of accuracy, were consistent with the performance of the very imprecise sensors that were available for dead reckoning. The sand-glass provided a reasonable match, in terms of accuracy, to the Dutchman's log.