10 Ridiculously Complicated Ways People Used to Tell Time

Before smartphones and wristwatches, telling time required a little more ingenuity—and a lot more moving parts. From burning candles with nails to intricate hydraulic machines powered by flowing water, ancient and medieval societies developed bizarrely creative timekeeping systems. These methods were often wildly elaborate, borderline ceremonial, and sometimes only accurate within a half-hour window. Still, they worked (mostly), and some were surprisingly beautiful.

Here are 10 of the most complicated, charmingly impractical ways people used to measure time before the quartz revolution.

Related: Top 10 World-Changing Inventions You Didn’t Know Were Scottish

10 Candle Clocks with Metal Weights

In medieval Europe, China, and Japan, people used candle clocks to measure time in a world without ticking hands or digital displays. The concept was simple: a candle marked with time intervals—usually in hours—would burn down at a roughly predictable rate. But to make these clocks more functional (and audible in the dark), inventors added metal balls, nails, or pins at each interval. As the wax melted, the objects dropped onto a metal tray with a clang, effectively serving as primitive alarm chimes. The method was especially useful at night when other clocks couldn’t be read, and monks used them to schedule prayers in monastic communities.

The earliest known reference to such a candle clock comes from Yen Fu, a Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty, while King Alfred the Great of England is also said to have used marked candles in the 9th century to organize his daily schedule. However, the accuracy of these clocks was limited by unpredictable variables: drafts could accelerate burning, different wax blends burned at uneven speeds, and the size of the wick played a huge role.

Some candle clocks included glass cylinders to protect the flame from wind or were encased in elaborate lanterns with sliding dials. Despite their charming simplicity, candle clocks required constant supervision—lest timekeeping literally melt away.^[1]

9 Incense Clocks That Measured Time in Scents

In ancient China, Japan, and Korea, incense clocks were both functional and ritualistic. These clocks used carefully crafted lines or spirals of incense that burned at a consistent rate, with each segment calibrated to a set time—sometimes as precise as 15 minutes. Some versions incorporated multiple kinds of incense, each with a different scent. That way, the passing of time could be identified not by sound or sight but by smell—creating an immersive, ambient awareness of time. These were especially popular in Buddhist monasteries, where burning incense had spiritual significance and timing rituals were essential.

More elaborate incense clocks included beads suspended on silk threads placed across the burning path. When the thread burned through, the bead would fall into a bronze bowl, producing a soft chime. These clocks weren’t just tools—they were works of art. Some were shaped like dragons, birds, or pagodas and were crafted from rare woods or precious metals.

The most intricate examples came from the Song Dynasty, where artisans developed multi-hour incense sticks and compartmentalized burners for longer rituals. Despite their ingenuity, incense clocks were fragile and sensitive to airflow, humidity, and human error. However, for hundreds of years, they provided an elegant, multisensory means of tracking the hours—often in complete silence.^[2]

8 The Chinese Water Clock Tower That Rang Bells

During the 11th century, polymath engineer Su Song designed one of the most astonishing timekeeping machines in history: a hydraulic astronomical clock tower that stood nearly 40 feet tall in the capital of the Song Dynasty. Built in AD 1090, the tower combined a waterwheel, escapement mechanism, celestial globe, and mechanical puppets. Water flowed into a bucket that slowly turned a giant chain drive system—centuries before such technology appeared in Europe—controlling a gear assembly that rotated armillary spheres and moved celestial charts with astonishing precision.

But it wasn’t just about tracking the stars. The clock featured automated drummers and bell-ringers that sounded at regular intervals, and even miniature wooden figurines emerged from hidden doors to announce the time in royal courts. The clock tower served as a public spectacle, a scientific observatory, and a state symbol of cosmic harmony. Unfortunately, it only worked for about 35 years before it was dismantled during a Jurchen invasion.

Despite detailed schematics left behind in Su Song’s book Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao, no one was able to reconstruct the mechanism—proving just how ahead of its time it truly was. It remains one of the earliest known examples of a mechanical escapement, a core principle still used in modern clocks.^[3]

7 Shadow Clocks That Shifted Every Month

Long before sundials became standard, ancient Egyptians developed shadow clocks or merkhets—devices that used a vertical stick (gnomon) and carefully carved scales to track the movement of shadows across a flat surface. But unlike modern sundials, these instruments were not fixed; they had to be realigned regularly based on the stars and changing solar angles. Since the sun’s path through the sky varies each month, priests recalibrated the device constantly using stellar references, especially the pole star and bright stars from Orion and Canis Major.

Shadow clocks were incredibly complex for a supposedly “simple” instrument. Users needed a thorough understanding of solar declination, seasonal variation, and even longitude drift if used in different regions. Some models were divided into 12 segments, while others were divided into 24 segments, depending on whether the user was tracking hours of daylight or full-day cycles.

These instruments were not intended for casual users; they were specialized astronomical tools that required training. Egyptian temple priests used them not just to track time but to schedule offerings, calculate agricultural calendars, and align sacred buildings with celestial events. As one of the earliest known scientific instruments, the shadow clock was both elegant and maddeningly technical—especially when the sun decided to hide behind a cloud.^[4]

6 The Greek Clepsydra That Measured Speeches

The clepsydra, or water clock, was a staple of ancient timekeeping, especially in Greek society. While its use in temples and households was widespread, the most notorious use came in Athenian courtrooms, where the clepsydra served as a legal timer. Litigants were granted a set amount of time—usually a few minutes—to speak, with the flow of water from one vessel to another marking their allotted time. The devices were calibrated by hole size and water volume, with a full drain usually signifying the end of a phase in the trial.

But the system had its eccentricities. If a trial paused for any reason—jury questions, procedural objections—the water flow had to be manually stopped and restarted without losing a drop, lest a party lose precious seconds. In some instances, bronze clepsydras were used, featuring handles and decorative elements, making them not only practical but also ceremonial.

These clocks became so embedded in legal culture that running out of water became synonymous with running out of time—a literal ticking timer in a world without ticking. Their function as both a democratic tool and a source of anxiety shows how deeply timekeeping was woven into civic life—and how even the ancient Greeks struggled with fairness under pressure.^[5]

5 Nocturnal Dials That Needed Stars and a Steady Hand

The nocturnal was a clever, handheld instrument used primarily by sailors and astronomers between the 14th and 17th centuries to tell time at night. It consisted of rotating discs marked with months and hours, along with a central arm or pointer. To operate it, users aligned the device with the North Star (Polaris) and a reference star—usually Kochab or Dubhe from the Big Dipper—and measured their angular separation. From this angle, they could estimate the time with surprising accuracy, which is especially useful during long voyages or military campaigns.

But mastering the nocturnal required a working knowledge of the night sky, clear weather, and near-perfect conditions. One gust of wind, one cloud, or one misaligned arm could throw off the reading entirely. Some nocturnals were made of brass and finely engraved; others were basic wood-and-string tools used by common seamen.

The instruments were often passed down through families and customized for latitude, meaning a nocturnal designed for Lisbon might be useless in London. Despite their limitations, nocturnals were a vital precursor to sextants and chronometers—and they proved that, with patience and skill, the stars could still give you the time… if you knew where to look.^[6]

4 Al-Jazari’s Elephant Clock

In the early 13th century, the brilliant Islamic engineer al-Jazari designed one of the most visually spectacular and mechanically complex timepieces of the medieval world: the Elephant Clock. This was not just a clock; it was a multicultural symbol wrapped in a timekeeping machine. The base was a large elephant figure representing India. On top rode a mechanical scribe in Arab dress, a Chinese dragon, Egyptian phoenixes, and Persian waterworks, all synchronized into a single hydraulic system. Inside the elephant’s belly was a float-based water timer that slowly dropped over a half hour, triggering the movement of gears and levers.

At each time interval, a ball dropped into a hidden bowl, activating a system that caused a humanoid figure to strike a cymbal while a bird chirped and a serpent lowered. When the hour ended, a complex reset mechanism refilled the float chamber and rearmed the puppet system. The entire structure had to be perfectly leveled and maintained constantly to function properly, and even slight variations in water flow could disrupt the synchronization.

Al-Jazari’s detailed drawings survived in his famous manuscript, The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices, which modern historians consider one of the earliest manuals of robotics and programmable machines. The Elephant Clock was less about precision and more about spectacle, but it remains one of the most ambitious attempts to combine science, engineering, and art into one flowing system of time.^[7]

3 Japanese Wadokei Clocks with Seasonal Hours

During Japan’s Edo period, traditional timekeeping followed a system called temporal hours, where daylight and nighttime were each divided into six equal segments, regardless of how long the sun stayed in the sky. That meant summer “hours” could last more than 90 minutes, while winter ones might be shorter than 45. To match this rhythm, Japanese clockmakers created wadokei, mechanical clocks that could adjust to these fluctuating hour lengths. Unlike Western clocks with fixed intervals, these devices required ingenious solutions to slow down or speed up their ticking in harmony with the changing seasons.

Some wadokei used adjustable dial plates that slid along the face of the clock, allowing users to reposition the hour markers as the sunrise and sunset times changed. Others featured multiple foliot balances that could be manually switched to modify the internal mechanism’s pace. Clock owners had to recalibrate their devices roughly every 15 days according to the lunar calendar, making timekeeping a hands-on and seasonal activity.

Despite their complexity, wadokei were widely used in Japan until the 19th century, when Western timekeeping became standard. These devices reflected a worldview where time was not fixed but instead followed the natural rhythm of light and dark, making them deeply tied to the environment and Japanese cosmology.^[8]

2 The Roman Sundial That Required a User Manual

Sundials are often thought of as simple time-telling tools, but for the ancient Romans, they could be incredibly complicated. Many sundials were designed for specific cities based on their latitude and the seasonal variation in daylight. If someone moved a sundial from one location to another, it could become wildly inaccurate unless it was recalibrated for the new coordinates. As a result, many Roman sundials required mathematical tables, alignment tools, or written instructions to function properly, making them more akin to scientific instruments than convenient clocks.

Some surviving sundials feature engraved correction charts that adjust for the sun’s angle throughout the year. Others list different hour markings for different seasons or months. These corrections were not always easy to apply and often required the help of trained specialists or astronomers. Wealthy Romans would sometimes consult experts or priests to interpret their sundials, especially for ritual or legal purposes where precise timing was crucial.

In some cases, visitors returning from distant provinces brought sundials home as souvenirs, only to find that they no longer worked. Roman poet Propertius once mocked a sundial that “never told the right time,” reflecting a common frustration with timekeeping devices. Despite being solar-powered and beautifully crafted, these sundials often needed as much explanation as they provided time.^[9]

1 Medieval Astronomical Clocks That Needed Teams to Maintain

In medieval Europe, some of the most ambitious timekeeping devices were astronomical clocks, massive machines that tracked not just the hour but also lunar phases, planetary orbits, zodiac positions, and religious feast days. These clocks, built into cathedrals and civic towers, were marvels of gearwork and symbolic design. Cities like Prague, Strasbourg, and Wells became famous for their elaborate clock towers, which featured moving figurines, rotating celestial spheres, and chiming automata that performed dramatic shows at regular intervals.

Behind the scenes, however, these clocks were extremely labor-intensive. They had to be wound daily using large cranks or weights, and many of their components drifted out of sync over time. Their calendars required manual adjustments each year, especially for leap years or changes in the liturgical calendar.

It often took a dedicated staff of clockmakers and mathematicians to keep everything functioning. In some cases, entire guilds were formed to maintain these clocks, and repairs could take months. Despite their high maintenance, these clocks were symbols of civic pride and technological mastery. They demonstrated humanity’s desire to map the heavens and impose order on time, even if it required constant attention to keep them from falling apart.^[10]