A striking clock

The striking characteristic of clocks was at one time sometimes more important than their clock faces; some early clocks struck the hours, but had no civic dials to enable the time to be read. Many early clocks struck up to 24 strokes, mainly in Italy, where the 24 hour clock, keeping Italian hours, was widely used in the 14th and 15th centuries. The 12 hour clock, and accordingly 12 hour striking, became more established, mainly in Northern Europe and England, and ultimately became the standard.