When the Panama Canal was inaugurated in 1914, it stood as a monument to engineering prowess and the quiet, often invisible discipline of measurement. The accurate control of water levels, the precise alignment of massive lock gates, and the seamless operation of the canal’s machinery were feats that depended on precise, reliable, and consistent measurements—what we now recognize as core elements of metrology. Yet, at that time, Panama had no national metrology infrastructure of its own.