Ever since they appeared humans have measured time in the most various of ways. They invented solar devices, used water, sand, stones and G-d knows how many other innovations.
Let's imagine such a device that measures the flow of time by accumulating some balls in different boxes, the balls coming from a row where they are stored. Let's assume that the device has 3 boxes that measure a minute, five minutes and, respectively, an hour. The device is set to measure time between 01:00 AM and 12:59 AM (without indicating a.m or p.m). E.g. 3 balls in box 1-min, 3 balls in box 5-min and 3 balls in box ora, will represent 03:18.
Unfortunately this type of watch can't indicate a date, even though it can be deduced. In their movement balls change relative position in the row in a predictable manner, which can provide information about the time lapsed between two ball row configurations. More so, starting with a specific time configurations begin to repeat themselves.
The ball watch works
in the following way:
every minute the first ball in the row is raised and stored in the box
that indicates 1-min and which can contain up to 4 balls.
When the fifth ball comes their weight makes the bottom of the box open
up and the four balls fall back in the row of balls, at the end of the
row; the ball that created this change moves forward all the way to the
box indicating 5-min. This second box can contain up to
11 balls; the 12th ball determines the return of the 11 balls
to the end of the row of balls and the 12th one's roll into
the box marking hours. This third box can receive 11 balls
but contains a ball from the beginning so that the hour indicated is numbered
from 1 to 12. The 12th ball to enter in the 5-min box,
after it causes the emptying of this box, rolls to the hour box and -
capacity here being exceeded the box is emptied and the 12 balls go back
to the end of the row of balls and the last ball remains in the box.
