Often responding to questions stated by others and exceedingly proud of his ability to find the answers, Huygens obviously desired the acclaim of his contemporaries. He constantly compared himself to the illustrious forefathers of science, undoubtedly searching for the recognition that was theirs. Yet the erratic way in which he communicated his results guaranteed a diffuse and diverse reception and ultimately undermined his place in history.

Certainly, the contemporary response to Huygens's theory of evolutes and its companion discoveries cannot be judged by the notice given to the Horologium Oscillatorium, which was not published until fourteen years after Huygens had created the mathematical technique, by which time most researchers had already learned of its major applications through more informal channels of communication. Indeed, many of the people with whom Huygens had scientific ties heard about the cycloidal clock and the isochronous path of its bob within a year of its creation.

Of course, van Schooten had been told about the new design almost at the moment of its birth, and a month later a similar description went to the Flemish mathematician Andreas Tacquet. However, although both letters contain a sketch of a pendulum hung between curved plates, neither identifies the curve as a cycloid. Instead, the derivation was left as an unspoken challenge to the recipient.

Subsequent letters to Jean Chapelain, Pierre de Carcavy, Boulliau, and Wallis are even more vague, with no sketch and only a brief claim to have created an isochronous clock.