History Literature / TheWatchmakerOfFiligreeStreet

* ClingyMacguffin: It's impossible to lose one of Mori's watches. Pawnbrokers in the city refuse to take them - they inevitably disappear after a few days and find their way back to their owner.

* ElegantClassicalMusician: Male example in Thaniel, who plays the piano.

* ForWantOfANail: The [[spoiler:possible futures Mori can see]] work like this, for example [[spoiler:his diary ends up being wrong]] when a dice falls a certain way and results in Thaniel meeting Grace.

* HidingBehindTheLanguageBarrier: Two [[BilingualBackfire unsuccessful attempts]] in the first flashback chapter, both using English as the "secret" language (it's set in Japan): first, one of Ito's aids says something not very nice about Mori, who answers, coldly if politely, in perfect English. Then Mori himself gives advice to Ito in front of his cousin, who doesn't understand what Mori said, but guesses he's up to something.

* BritsLoveTea: Since the central character is a Japanese man living in England, tea ensues. Lots of it. In fact, the first thing we learn about Thaniel is that he keeps a packet of Lipton's in his desk at work - although having befriended Mori, he changes his preference to green tea. In the first flashback chapter Mori is shown to handle the tea ceremony utensils in exactly the right way.

* MagicalRealism: Thaniel and Annabel hired a (apparently accurate) clairvoyant to find out their father's last wishes after he left no will. Mori's watches are impossible to lose and will always return to their owner, [[spoiler:and Mori himself has precognition. He also makes (?) and uses a powder that causes rain]].

* UpperClassTwit: Played with but mostly subverted with Matsumoto (who ''acts'' the part of RichIdiotWithNoDayJob) and Fanshaw, lovably scatterbrained and somewhat excentric, but a dedicated, capable diplomat.

* MundaneUtility: Thaniel's synesthesia is very useful for learning languages, while Mori's talents make him unbeatable at games of skill. Apparently he once won a house in Osaka in a card game. His powers also allowed him to learn English by immersion years before actually arriving in England.

** Mori's wedding present of three vials which allow Thaniel to effect the weather. [[spoiler: Thaniel uses the rain vial to make sure Grace's bomb doesn't burn down the whole block.]]

* MundaneUtility: Thaniel's synesthesia is very useful for learning languages, while Mori's talents make him unbeatable at games of skill. Apparently he once won a house in Osaka in a card game.

* NoodleIncident: While it's pretty obvious that whatever it was Grace did with the magnesium involved StuffBlowingUp (it apparently left a permanent crater in the lawn), when she tells Matsumoto to stop complaining, since ''his eyebrows survived intact'' makes one wonder just how many lab safety procedures she's violated and why, given that she generally works with light.

* ScienceMarchesOn: Both in and out of universe example - Grace is trying to prove the existence of ether, and refuses to believe her experiments when they suggest it doesn't exist, since the calculations say it does.

* SpotOfTea: Since the central character is a Japanese man living in England, tea ensues. Lots of it. In fact, the first thing we learn about Thaniel is that he keeps a packet of Lipton's in his desk at work - although having befriended Mori, he changes his preference to green tea. In the first flashback chapter Mori is shown to handle the tea ceremony utensils in exactly the right way.

* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: Fanshaw, spelled Featheringstonehough. Mori and Thaniel [[LampshadeHanging make fun of it]]. Mori comments that the kanji spelling of his family name was probably also an instance of this.