Clock of Power

Time for something amazing.

A timepiece (including but not limited to clocks, watches, hourglasses, sundials, Clock Tower etc.) that has a superpower itself or gives its wearer / inhabitant some kinds of superpower.

Because the main function of timepieces is to tell time, time-related magic is the most common type of power given to the wearer. These powers include, but are not limited to: Bullet Time, viewing past and future events, stopping time, being able to move when time is frozen, creating a Time Dilation etc. Don't be surprised if you have trouble getting it off in the case of watches.

How the superpower (usually time-related) would interact with the timepiece would vary widely depend on the works, but some of the most common methods are: Stopwatches that can literally stop time, turning an hourglass upside-down to reverse time, clocktowers where something happens at the strike of midnight.

Compare Mask of Power, Hat of Power, Tricked-Out Gloves, Tricked-Out Shoes, Crystal Skull. Might or might not overlap with Death's Hourglass and Doomsday Clock. Can also overlap with Super Wrist-Gadget in case of watches. Can overlap with Place of Power in the case of clock towers. If the user transform into a new form before they can use their superpower, then that timepiece is a Transformation Trinket and any examples should go into that page. Compare and contrast Gadget Watches, which is a more realistic take on the trope and only apply to watches. See also Clocks of Control which can overlap with this trope. If the clock is so powerful that it brought something to life or the clockwork technology is shaped into an animal shape, they might become Clockwork Creature, Mechanical Monster or a case of Mechanical Animals. This trope is the entire basis for Clock Punk.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• The pocket watch in Chrono Crusade could be considered to be a very untraditional Transformation Trinket. When Chrono opens the watch, it allows him to turn into his true form?but the watch is what keeps him looking like a young normally. It doesn't make him transform so much as it removes the seal on his powers.
• D.Gray-Man: Miranda Lotto's clock causes the town she resides in to undergo a time loop. The clock later becomes her main weapon and Innocence Time Record that gives her various time-related powers.
• Doraemon:
  • The Scheduler Clock is a clock-shaped gadget that forces the person who inserted the schedule inside to follow schedule, no matter the weather, condition or even if the task has already been finished.
  • The Ultra-Stopwatch is a stopwatch that is used to freeze time and only the person who touches it can move within the frozen time.

Eastern Animation

• BoBoiBoy: Ochobot is the alien Power Sphera of manipulation who granted "power bands/watches" to the heroes: BoBoiBoy's watch lets him manipulate the elements, Yaya's can manipulate gravity, Ying's can control speed/time, Gopal's can transform the molecules of any non-living object, and Fang's watch grants shadow powers. Each of these digital superpowered wristwatches match their user's color themes, glow when in use, and can be used as communication devices.

Fan Works

• and the universe said i love you: Connor's time travel abilities are powered by twisting the dial on his pocket watch, which is controlled on the inside by his Soul Gem. The watch also allows him to slow down and stop time temporarily as need be.

Films — Live-Action

• Clockstoppers: The Hypertime Watch appears to stop time, but actually gives the wielder super speed and alters their perception of time. The drawback is, this can age the wearer prematurely.
• Dark City: The Strangers physically alter the city with the aid of a gigantic clock that they control via mass "tuning" (their word for their telekinetic/psychic power). The clock amplifies their tuning, allowing them to send everyone in the city to sleep at once, and can deconstruct/reconstruct entire skyscrapers in seconds.
• The Hudsucker Proxy: The Hudsucker Industries building is dominated by a large Clock Tower. At the climax, the Almighty Janitor jams the clock, freezing time in a Deus ex Machina that saves the protagonist's life.
• Space Jam: A New Legacy: Chronos of the Goon Squad has a large clock on his left shoulder, plus a large-dial watch on his wrist. With the watch, Chronos can alter time around himself, which lets him move much faster than the Road Runner. However, Granny can exploit temporal distortion from The Matrix, which lets her adjust Chronos's watch. The man ages 132 years in a matter of seconds, becoming too feeble to be a threat.

Literature

• Discworld: Azrael, the Death of Universes, holds the clock that tells time what it is — the biggest hand only goes around once. At the end of Reaper Man, he turns it back a notch, giving Renata Flitworth one more night as a token of gratitude.
• Harry Potter: The Time-Turner is described as a "tiny, sparkling hourglass attached to a very fine, long gold chain". Turning it allows the wearer to go back in time one hour.
• Nightside: Walker's pocket watch contains a portable Timeslip, a spacetime portal that lets him show up wherever he's needed, Just in Time. It's an impressive feat of Magitek even by the Nightside's standards.
• In Please Don't Tell My Parents I've Got Henchmen, Penny builds a clock that, rather than telling the time, changes all clocks in an area around it to match whatever time the master clock says the time is.
• Sylvie and Bruno: The Outlandish Watch allows its user to travel up to a month into the past and return to the present, and to experience time backward.

Live-Action TV

• Bernard's Watch: The titular watch allows Bernard to stop time for everyone except himself by clicking the button on top of it.
• Doctor Who:
  • Time Lords can use the Chameleon Arch to change into another species, hiding their time lord essence, including memories, in another object, most typically a fob watch. If the Time Lord opens it, their memories and essence will be restored:
    • In "Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood", the Tenth Doctor does this to become human John Smith while hiding from the Family of Blood, who want to eat his essence to expand their short lifespans. Had they gotten their hands on his fob watch, it would have given them immortality. When Tim Latimer, a human with low-level psychic ability, opened it, he was granted a vision of himself on a battlefield in World War I, ensuring his and his classmate's survival years later.
    • In "Utopia", Dr. Yana has a fob watch exactly like John Smith's, making Martha suspect that he is also a Time Lord in disguise. She's right — unfortunately, the Time Lord in question is the Master.
    • Subverted in "The Next Doctor". When the Tenth Doctor sees that the Next Doctor, who has amnesia, has a similar fob watch, he opens it, thinking it will restore the Next Doctor's memories. It turns out to be a regular fob watch, foreshadowing that the Next Doctor is just a regular human made to believe he is the Doctor.
  • A couple of times, the Master's TARDIS has taken the shape of a grandfather clock.
• Kamen Rider Zi-O: The Ridewatches are watch-like Transformation Trinkets that hold the powers and history of the Kamen Rider they depict. Most of them are based on analog wristwatches, but Geiz's is based on a digital watch, and Woz's Miridewatches are based on smartwatches instead. Geiz's Mid-Season Upgrade, Revive, is activated with an hourglass-shaped Ridewatch.
• Stargirl (2020): Unlike in the comics (in which it was the result of a short-acting Super Serum), Hourman's abilities come from a mysterious hourglass device that is worn as a pendant, which, when turned once, grants the wearer superhuman strength and agility for one hour. It was originally created by the first Hourman, the late Rex Tyler, and in the show is worn by his son Rick.
• The Twilight Zone (1959): "A Kind of a Stopwatch" has a stopwatch that can stop time. It breaks while time is frozen.

Tabletop Games

• Arkham Horror 3rd Edition: The Pocket Watch is an equippable item with the Simple, yet Awesome effect of granting the owner an extra action every turn.
• Mage: The Awakening: A theme in the Cult of the Doomsday Clock:
  • Their home Pocket Dimension, the Clocktower, is a time-themed Eldritch Location that enhances their own magic, impedes outsiders, and contains portals to any location on Earth.
  • Doomsday Clocks are magical bombs whose Area of Effect slowly annihilates everything from both the present and the past.
• Magic: The Gathering:
  • "Armageddon Clock" is a 6-mana Colorless Doomsday Clock artifact that will deal damage to each player the more it has Doom counter on it. Each player can try to destroy it or remove the Doom counter to prevent damage inflicted to them.
  • "Blood Clock" is a 4 mana Colorless artifact that allow each player to return a permanent they control to its owner's hand.
  • "Clock of Omen" is a 4 mana Colorless Artifact that allow you to tapped two untapped artifact you control to untap another artifact you control.
  • "Grindclock" is a 2 mana Colorless Artifact that allow you to mill cards from your or your opponent's deck whenever you untap it.
  • "Midnight Clock" is a 2 Colorless 1 Blue mana artifact that after 12 Counters are put on it, shuffle your hand and graveyard into your deck, and then you can draw seven cards.
  • "Trenzalore Clocktower" is a Legendary Land that allow you to allow you to shuffle your hand and graveyard into your deck, and then you can draw seven cards if you remove 12 counters on it and control a Time Lord.
  • "Unwinding Clock" is a 4 Colorless Mana artifact that allow you to untap all artifacts you control during each other player's untap step.
  • "Sand of Time" is a 4 Colorless mana hourglass artifact that skip each player's untap step but then will untap all other spells and permanent on that player's turn, thus countering some of the effects that trigger during that step.
  • "Time Sieve" is a 2-cost Blue and Black mana hourglass artifact that will tap itself to sacrifice five artifacts to take an extra turn.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!:
  • "Pyro Clock of Destiny" is a Normal Trap that allows you to move the turn count by 1. This is a Useless Useful Spell for Final Countdown deck that aim to stall until 20 turns have past.
  • "Morphtronic Clocken" is a monster based on household clock that allow you to inflict damage to your opponent by sacrificing it.
  • "Underclock Taker" is a Link 2 clock-inspired monster that allow you to debuff the enemy monster.
  • "Labrynth Cooclock" is a monster shaped like a grandfather clock that is part of the Labrynth archetype. It allows you to activate Trap card the turn you set them and can summon itself from your hand if you activated a Trap card.
  • "Clock Resonator" is a part of the Resonator archetype. Being a Tuner monster it allows you to access the Synchro Monsters.
  • "Clock Tower Prison" is a Clock Tower Field spell that negate damage for you and enable Destiny Hero Dreadmaster.
  • "Time Wizard" and its Fusion upgrade "Time Wizard of Tomorrow" are clock-based Spellcaster monsters that allow you to called a coin toss to destroy either your or your opponent monster based on the result. It is the card game counterpart of its anime counterpart that cast time effect onto the entire battlefield, usually used by Joey / Jounouchi to debuff his opponent's monster and age up his Baby Dragon.

Video Games

• In Bayonetta, the Bracelet of Time is a watch-shaped accessory that allows Bayonetta to trigger Witch Time at will instead of only after a perfectly timed dodge. This grants the player control of exactly when they want to use it to start wracking up damage. However, this disables Umbral Climax and all other methods of triggering Witch Time.
• In Castlevania, the Stopwatch (and its successors, the Hourglass, Timer, Pocket Watch, and Clock), uses vampire blood as a resource to slow down or stop time. In-game, it's a sub-weapon that consumes five hearts to slow down or freeze nearby enemies. However, some enemies (and especially bosses) are immune to its effects.
• Dishonored 2 features an artifact just known as 'the Timepiece', given to the player character by the Outsider during the level "A Crack in the Slab". Due to the temporal anomaly in this level, void powers are disabled, necessitating the usage of the Timepiece in order to move between the present day and a night two years previously when a rift in time formed.
• For the King: The Golden Hourglass is a top-tier trinket that boosts the owner's movement rate and their speed in the Combatant Cooldown System. It's won from the Old One, a Time Master who makes the PCs randomly skip their turns while he's active.
• In the 8-bit adventure game Lords of Time, the time machine used to travel between the different eras has the form of a grandfather clock.
• League of Legends: Ekko's Zero-Drive is shaped like an hourglass, and allows him to manipulate time.
• Vampire Survivors has the Clock Lancet and its evolved version, the Infinite Corridor; the Lancet doesn't do any damage by itself, but it stops enemies in time in a clockwise pattern. The Infinite Corridor does the same, but every twelfth shot, it sends out a pulse that halves the HP of all enemies on-screen.
• World of Warcraft plays with this: clocks exist, and they are perfectly fine for telling time, but if you ever find an hourglass around, you can be 95% sure that it's got some kind of time-related magic ability or enchantment despite very few people using them to actually measure time. The reason for this is that sand is the way that time-related magic usually manifests, to the point that the Bronze Dragonflight's members don't breathe fire like most dragons — they breathe sand.

Webcomics

• El Goonish Shive: Tedd uses toy watches to "program" a single transformation spell for a human wearer to use, i.e. one to lengthen hair, one to become a humanoid cat person. They effectively work like highly-specific wands, supposedly drawing from the wearer's energy. However, it is later revealed the watches only work in Moperville due to the town's ambient magic, and that Tedd was only able to do this because they are a seer with the ability to create wands.
• Homestuck: God Tier players cannot die unless they perish in a "just" or "heroic" manner. When one is killed, an animation is shown of the pendulum of a baroque grandfather clock swinging between the two options; if its settles on one the player stays dead, but if it stops halfway between they return to life. While this is initially implied to just be a visual representation of an abstract process, it is later revealed that this is a real and physical object in the possession of the timepiece connoisseur Doc Scratch. This is most notably seen when another character starts smashing it right as the clock is trying to decide the fate of the recently-killed player Vriska, causing it freeze on the Just side and leaving her permanently dead despite not having finished moving on its own.

Western Animation

• Ben 10:
  • Averted with the superpowered Omnitrix. While it is frequently called a watch, the alien artifact only loosely resembles one, and its origins have nothing at all to do with telling time.
  • Played straight with Sublimino. His pocket watch can hypnotize people, and turn them into sleeper agents to commit crimes on his behalf. In his debut appearance he tries to channel the watch's power through a giant clocktower to expand it's potential reach immensely.
  • Ben 10: Alien Force: Paradox's Chrononavigator takes the shape of a fob watch, and helps him traverse the multiverse. It's design is later updated to resemble a gauntlet instead.
• Danny Phantom: Clockwork has his Time Staff, which has a stopwatch on the end that allows him to manipulate time.
• Ducktales 2017:
  • In the "Meet Scrooge!" short, Louie plays with a clock that turns out to be a time machine, sending Scrooge through multiple time periods before Louie sets it back to noon.
  • In "The 87 Cent Solution!", Glomgold reveals himself to be the one behind Scrooge's seeming descent into madness, as he picked up a discarded Gearloose Labs invention shaped like a fob watch that could freeze and unfreeze time when clicking the top button. Glomgold used his "Time Teaser" to secretly annoy Scrooge and make him look insane with a fictional illness called Gold Fever.
  • Gyro Gearloose's Time Tub features a few different clocks on it, though it's unclear if they themselves power the time travel or not.
• The Garfield Show: In "Time Master", Garfield finds a stopwatch that is able to freeze time when used.
• The Simpsons: In the Treehouse of Horror XIV segment "Stop the World, I Want to Goof Off" (a parody of "A Kind of a Stopwatch" from The Twilight Zone), Bart and Milhouse order a stopwatch from an ad in a comic book that claims to be able to stop time. It actually works as intended, and they immediately use it to carry out pranks around town. It ends up breaking while time is still frozen, and they're stuck teaching themselves watchmaking for the next fifteen years until it's repaired.
• SWAT Kats: The Pastmaster has a stopwatch on a chain around his neck, with which he summons skeletons from their graves to battle the Enforcers while he makes his escape. It's not until he gets his paws on the Tome of Time that he's able to summon a dinosaur from the distant past, and send the Turbokat into the Cretaceous period.
• VeggieTales: In "A Snoodle's Tale", Bob the Tomato tells the story of the Snoodles, "a curious folk who eat pancakes and noodles and spend half their days making sketches and doodles and cutting their hair into shapes like French poodles". In the center of Snoodleburg, the hometown of all of the Snoodles, there is a large Clock Tower that produces a new Snoodle every fourth Tuesday at quarter past nine.
• Xiaolin Showdown: The Sands of Time are an hourglass shaped Shen Gong Wu that allows time travel.

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