On your planet, numerous buildings have large clocks visible to the general public.

However, some of these clocks are stopped, show the wrong time, or do not keep accurate time.

The job of the Time Police is to travel round and look at such clocks. If they are not showing the correct time for any reason, they can issue an enforcement notice, requiring the person responsible for the clock to either fix it or to cover the dial so that it cannot be read.

The usual appeals and waviers in the case of "historic" clocks will apply.
-- 8th of 7, Feb 09 2016

For an historic clock that is not working because some part is broken that no one makes any more, perhaps the face of the clock could be covered with another clock. Physically speaking, clocks can be quite thin these days, and making a thin clock with a large face is a relatively simple thing. The face of a "patch" clock could even closely resemble the original! (And now I'm thinking this should be posted as a separate Idea....)
-- Vernon, Feb 09 2016


All clocks are repairable. That is what clocksmiths are for.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 09 2016


Makes sense to me, openly displaying a clock should be considered a privilege, and not undertaken lightly. We need to instil a sense of responsibility in some of these folks, and I'd start with a blanket clock/watch requirement for individuals.
-- zen_tom, Feb 09 2016


// For an historic clock that is not working because some part is broken that no one makes any more, perhaps the face of the clock could be covered with another clock. //

There would be exceptions, particularly if the clock in question had stopped on 11 September 2001, or 6 August 1945.

The law would mostly apply to perfectly good, maintainable clocks whose custodians are just too idle to care for them.

// We need to instil a sense of responsibility in some of these folks, //

Ahhh, did we fail to mention the repeated random brutal beatings administered to the offender on a frequent basis until they take demonstrable steps to address the problem ?
-- 8th of 7, Feb 09 2016


Clocks/watches like this are going away. The only reason they exist is so people can meet somewhere at a predicted time. But the more we broadcast our positions and intents, the less we need absolute time to schedule things. "I am going to the drugstore, druggist are you there?"; "Yes, I am, I will be here for the next 20 mins." See? Doesn't matter if it's 6:30 am or 2:97 qm.

As for this idea, the clock police should be a quasi-judicial organization whose purpose is to speed the fall of absolute time totalitarianism. The Time Police zip around, finding errors in clocks, as described, but forcefully decommission them.
-- the porpoise, Feb 09 2016


// The more we broadcast our positions and intents, the less we need absolute time to schedule things. //

... and the more eager Governments will be to do your scheduling for you. Make sure you're facing the Telescreen when you do your morning exercises ... the Thought Police are watching you ...
-- 8th of 7, Feb 09 2016


// For an historic clock that is not working

A suitable application for the virtual false teeth hologram, either to project an entirely other clock, or to hide the broken one for all times a day except twice.
-- tatterdemalion, Feb 09 2016


This will never work. Relativity is a thing.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 09 2016



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