Egyptians were the first, after the Sumerians, to separate time into something like hours. Egyptians build Obelisks; tall, four sided structures that tapered off toward the top around 3500 BC. They followed the shadow like a sundial.
Egyptians also made what may be the first ever portable timepiece. This came around 1500 BC to measure hours. It was divided between 10 day time hours and 2 twilight hours in the morning and night.
The merkhet is the oldest known tool used for astronomy. It came around 600 BC. It was used to determine North and South by lining them up with the Pole Star.
Sundials eventually became more elaborate, like the hemispherical dial. It was a bowl-shaped depression cut into a block of stone, carrying a central vertical pointer and scribed with sets of hour lines for different seasons.
Water clocks date back to 1500 BC. They were stone with sloping sides to allow water to pour out continuously. Markings on the sides showed how much time had passed as water got to each mark.
http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa071401a.htm
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