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In this case, as I lay in bed listening to the clock ticking, it occurred to me how many people don’t. I have a number of clocks, and the watches I wear are all wind-ups, most of them bought on eBay.
I object to digital clocks and watches on the grounds that they make no functional sound and do not demonstrate the sweep of time. Time moves, it passes, it doesn’t just add up like a numerical equation (i.e. McDonalds’ “24 billion served”). It is cyclical, like our bodies, our lives, our history. The face of a real watch shows the sweep of time; you can see not only how far the day has gone but how far it has yet to go.
And the sound is not only of time itself ticking away, but of the actually function of the device. Not an electronic beep that has to be set, but the tune of the watch mechanism functioning. And when it stops, that stopping is completely predictable — I must wind it every 24 hours. None of this “ohmigod I’m late — my watch battery died!”. I become part of the passing of time.]]>
