Before the mechanical clock, time was local and approximate. You rose with the sun, ate when hungry, slept when dark. The monastery bell marked the hours, but loosely. A clock changed everything — not because it measured time more accurately, but because it made us believe time was something that could be measured at all.
The escapement mechanism is a small miracle of controlled failure. A gear tries to turn; a lever catches it, releases it, catches it again. Progress through interruption. Every tick is a tiny permission granted.
I keep a broken pocket watch on my desk. It is stopped at 4:17. I find it more honest than most clocks I own.