In 1888, a man designed a watch for wages, and began selling it. He founded the Bundy production company. This company joined with several other companies and became an International Recording Company. It will later change its name to International Business Machines or IBM.
Going back to the original machine that started it all; what is a time clock? Basically it is a cloud based time and attendance device that records the time that employees arrive at work and then leave it again at the end of the day. It is easy to see how this device became popular among companies with large staff.
Mechanical master clocks work with printed time cards that have a small check box that shows the time. Each employee receives a card and hands it to the machine at work and leaves. When inserting a card with the appropriate check box, the pull lever on the watch and ink bar, the timestamp is printed in the area.
Some models use a dial instead of a card, and each employee calls their own name / number, and time is recorded. This can obviously be misused by other employees, and "key" watches are created. Each employee is given his own key so that only he can record his arrival and departure.