History Main / ClockKing

** Moreso the Train Man in ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions.'' Then again, he ''controls'' the trains (it's not so much he makes the trains run on time, but that in his world time is when the trains run!).

** In the Treasure Island arc, he's able to use [[spoiler:a line of his allies willingly letting themselves be petrified]] to calculate [[spoiler:the exact moment to toss a jar of revival fluid into the air so it lands on him and immediately depetrifies him]]. This is an on-the-fly plan implemented in a matter of ''seconds''

* In ''Manga/DrStone'', Senku was [[TakenForGranite petrified into a statue]] in an area with no sunlight, but knew exactly the date and time he was finally freed by counting every second during the thousands of years he was stuck. As insane as that sounds, to him, it was necessary to syncronize with time so he wouldn't risk waking up and dying in the winter.

** His meticulous timing and scheduling is explained in his back story; he owned a business efficiency company that was being sued, and the day of the hearing, the future mayor Hamilton Hill suggested he break schedule and take his coffee break earlier, so as to look more relaxed and presentable to the court. UsefulNotes/MurphysLaw kicked in: he ended up running late, his appeal was thrown out, ruining him, and the end result can be summed up thusly:

** His meticulous timing and scheduling is explained in his back story; he owned a business efficiency company that was being sued, and the day of the hearing, the future mayor Hamilton Hill suggested he break schedule and take his coffee break earlier, so as to look more relaxed and presentable to the court. MurphysLaw kicked in: he ended up running late, his appeal was thrown out, ruining him, and the end result can be summed up thusly:

* Manfred von Karma in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' -- he throws a fit when a trial takes more than exactly three minutes, and the protagonist is clued to use XanatosSpeedChess to beat him. Which is actually pretty close to [[IndyPloy Phoenix's usual method]].

[[quoteright:248:[[Franchise/{{Batman}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clockkinggloat_7907.jpg]]]]

* Hakuba Saguru, a guest star in ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' and a main character in the sister anime ''Manga/MagicKaito'', a detective in pursuit of the elusive PhantomThief Kaitou Kid. Hakuba carries around a gold pocket watch with which he notes the precise times of crimes down to a hundredth of a second. And apparently KID picked this up to a certain extent while fighting Conan.

* Captain Vidal in ''Film/PansLabyrinth'' was obsessed with time, especially since his pocketwatch belonged to his late father. He purposely kept it in perfect condition to spite his father's memory, who wanted the watch to be stopped to mark his death so his son "would know how a brave man dies." [[spoiler:When he is about to be executed by the rebels, he calmly requests that his son be told what time he died only for Mercedes to cut him off and say that his son "won't even know [his] name" followed by her brother shooting him in the head.]]

* [[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Grand Admiral Thrawn]] is quite adept at XanatosSpeedChess, but his initial plans often involve very precise timing. He acquires an ally ([[TheStarscream sort of]]) who has the ability to coordinate his forces to an even higher degree, but only rarely used him for that since his fleets could execute simultaneous attacks just fine. Notably in ''[[http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/1095271.html Heir To The Empire,]]'' he observed that two ships had connected for four minutes, fifty-three seconds, and knew not only that three people had transferred, but which people went to which ship and where they were going. Thrawn's scary like that.

* [[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Grand Admiral Thrawn]] is quite adept at XanatosSpeedChess, but his initial plans often involve very precise timing. He acquires an ally ([[TheStarscream sort of]]) who has the ability to coordinate his forces to an even higher degree, but only rarely used him for that since his fleets could execute simultaneous attacks just fine. Notably in ''[[http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/1095271.html Heir To The Empire,]]'' he [[http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/4161/17405510.jpg observed]] that two ships had connected for four minutes, fifty-three seconds, and knew not only that three people had transferred, but which people went to which ship and where they were going. Thrawn's scary like that.

* [[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Grand Admiral Thrawn]] is quite adept at XanatosSpeedChess, but his initial plans often involve very precise timing. He acquires an ally ([[TheStarscream sort of]]) who has the ability to coordinate his forces to an even higher degree, but only rarely used him for that since his fleets could execute simultaneous attacks just fine. Notably in ''[[http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/1095271.html Heir To The Empire]]'', he [[http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/4161/17405510.jpg observed]] that two ships had connected for four minutes, fifty-three seconds, and knew not only that three people had transferred, but which people went to which ship and where they were going. Thrawn's scary like that.

* German philosopher Immanuel Kant was famous for being one, especially in his later years. According to a famous anecdote, the inhabitants of Koenigsberg set their clocks on his daily walks, and the one day he wasn't on time, it was because he had just heard about UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution breaking out. Or reading ''Emile'' by Rousseau.

* Harold Crick from ''Film/StrangerThanFiction''.

* The Daemon, of Danial Suarez's [[Literature/{{Daemon}} eponymous novel]], is this. All the way. To the power of n.

* Downplayed somewhat with the high-tech LadyLand Azania in military science fiction ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'', who do not have the clock motif, but share a lot of the characteristics otherwise. Their centralized, super-computerized military has the best intelligence services in the setting, and a premade plan for almost everything--But little ability by most officers to think on their feet, which means that they perform poorly whenever their enemies manage to do something they did ''not'' predict.

* In ''Manga/DrStone'', Senku was [[TakenForGranite petrified into a statue]] in an area with no sunlight but knew exactly the date and time he was finally freed by counting every second during the thousands of years he was stuck. He also has a keen sense of how long it takes people he is merely passingly familiar with to do certain things or to catch on to what he's up to, evening the odds against enemies stronger than he is.

He has such millimetric precision and obsessive attention to detail that he will frequently [[SmugSnake boast]] of being "23 seconds ahead of schedule", or berate lackeys with "You're 17 seconds late". Expect the Clock King to always carry a pocketwatch and chain, or a very expensive looking wristwatch with more hands than Shiva. For some reason, they dislike digital clocks. Maybe they feel those lack [[EvilIsCool (villainous)]] [[ComplexityAddiction personality?]] Also, it's worth noting most Clock Kings and Queens are {{Villain}}s. It's not that heroes can't be this [[CrazyPrepared obsessive]] at planning... they just tend to go with IndyPloy instead. There's also the larger idea that the villains plan and scheme in secret ahead of time, and the heroes have to [[VillainsActHeroesReact react to what villains initiate]].

Maybe an explanation for the reason why most Clock Kings and Queens are {{Villain}}s resides in the conflict HarmonyVersusDiscipline: they subscribe to the latter, the belief that mankind can and should master themselves and their environment for the betterment of all. This can lead to attitudes like InsufferableGenius at best to LackOfEmpathy at worst, and all the range of TheJerkIndex. Maybe the Universe just wants to be accepted and it favors those who follow harmony. Notice that the polar opposite of a Clock King would be an IdiotHero, who excels at the IndyPloy.

* Trebla from [[Literature/SuperMinion]]. His villainous schemes include [[ComplexityAddiction huge numbers of contingency plans]], all with precise timetables. Somewhat downplayed, as reality doesn't always cooperate with his precise planning. During the first job Tofu works for him on, the heroes are two minutes later than planned, so he runs out of material for his scripted monologue and starts (badly) ad-libbing.

** Another part of his shtick though, is that there is almost always ''one little thing'' he doesn't take into account that derails his carefully thought out plans. In one of his schemes he failed to account for the Fantastic Four's ''mailman''.

* Depending on the writer, ComicBook/SpiderMan's Black Cat is one of these, planning events so it looked like anyone going after her was having terrible luck. Later on she develops powers that let her do this for real with just probability alteration.
* Herr Kleiser and Loki from ''ComicBook/TheUltimates''; both pull off complex plans and deceive the heroes into moving according to their wishes without a hitch (and in Loki's case, [[RealityWarper warping reality to accomodate his plans]])...until the hitch comes, at which time they're both caught completely flat-footed.

* The VoiceWithAnInternetConnection in ''Film/EagleEye'' is uncanny both because of the dispassionate CreepyMonotone and her near omniscient degree of planning with both time, distances, and getaway vehicles at the ready. Although it's revealed that [[spoiler:she's an evil AI. And her ability isn't due to prediction, but due to her immense control over everything.]]

* The Adjusters in ''Film/TheAdjustmentBureau'' rely on other people adhering to strict schedules, timetables and patterns. When their target starts [[IndyPloy to improvise]] (or, worse, one of them fails to act at the exact time prescribed by the plan), a SpannerInTheWorks is inevitable.
* ''Literature/TheGreatTrainRobbery'': The Crimean gold, when it's on the train to Folkestone, is heavily guarded in two heavy safes in the baggage car, each of which has two locks, requiring a total of four keys. Two of the keys are kept in the stationmaster's office at London Bridge behind lock and key, and are guarded by a single guard. The window to make wax impressions of the keys is limited because the guard's routine is timed down to the second: he only leaves his post at the exact same time every night to relieve himself from the bottle of beer he drinks on duty, and his bathroom break is exactly 75 seconds long.

* The short-short story "Co-Incidence" by Edward D. Hoch revolves around a publishing company junior executive named Rosemary with this kind of mind. She murders her boss merely by paying attention to his unconsciously inflexible schedule, and delaying him from leaving the office for a specific amount of time, less than a minute. He is run down by a taxicab leaving a timed traffic light.

* "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman", a short story by Creator/HarlanEllison, has the titular Ticktockman. This is the nickname for the Master Timekeeper, whose job it is to keep the world running on schedule. This intimidating figure goes masked like TheExecutioner, since any person who is not as punctual and efficient as a cog in a machine gets a quick and efficient death sentence.

* ''Literature/CheaperByTheDozen'' has a benevolent real life version in Frank Bunker Gilbreth, who is always trying to find the most efficient way to do needed tasks ... so that you have more time to spend on the things you ''want'' to do.

** Malvolio Bent of ''Literature/MakingMoney'', who resets the bank's clock every day when it falls two seconds behind. The novel's protagonist, Moist von Lipwig, demonstrates the capacity to memorize and exploit others' schedules when he breaks Owlswick Jenkins out of the Tanty, although he dislike adhering to one himself.

* [[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Grand Admiral Thrawn]] is quite adept at XanatosSpeedChess, but his initial plans often involve very precise timing. He acquires an ally ([[TheStarscream sort of]]) who has the ability to coordinate his forces to an even higher degree, but only rarely used him for that, since his fleets could execute simultaneous attacks just fine. Notably in ''[[http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/1095271.html Heir To The Empire]]'', he [[http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/4161/17405510.jpg observed]] that two ships had connected for four minutes, fifty-three seconds, and knew not only that three people had transferred, but which people went to which ship and where they were going. Thrawn's scary like that.
** The comic page linked above can give the impression that Thrawn's deduction is an AssPull, but he shows his work in the novel by extrapolating out loud from what he knows of the heroes. It's quite impressive, and cements Thrawn's claim to AwesomenessByAnalysis.

* [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Data]] is equally precise as Spock, though it comes from being an android with an internal clock to go by and thus he has no choice but to be so precise. When he actually turns off his internal clock, Data is implied to perceive time as irrationally as humans do.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The Doctor is prone to this on occasion, when he's particular annoyed/in the mood to show off.

* It's hard to think of any ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' group which ''hasn't'' done this at one point. Everything, from the layout of the building to how many insects invade the facility on a regular basis, is carefully and overwhelmingly mapped out and planned, to the point where you'd expect your average 'runner to time herself on the composition of a [[MundaneMadeAwesome peanut butter and jelly sandwich]] made to exact specification. Not that it's likely to help; the actual run will, in a best case scenario, turn into XanatosSpeedChess. More often, it'll devolve straight into an IndyPloy. That is, if you even ''had'' a plan in the first place.
* In the ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'' campaign, the [[ArtifactOfDoom Timepiece of Klorr]] came about because of a clockmaker who was obsessed with time, so obsessed that he struggled to control the one timepiece he could not set to perfect synchronization: his own heart. Research into dark magic and unspecified entities led him to create this pocket watch, which did indeed cause his heart to beat in perfect time, and also made him immortal, along with give him access to several time-related powers (in game terms, the watch's spell-like abilities include Haste, Hold Person, and even Time Stop) but with a terrible price. The user must murder --''not'' just kill-- sentient beings to pay for this effect, or the watch takes his life, which is what presumably happened to its creator.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' had a variation on this with Francis Grey, a pudgy guy who can rewind time to [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking fix his mistakes, allowing him to effortlessly dodge Batman's punches, high speed traffic, and undo his embarrassing attempts at banter]]. Unlike most examples of this trope, he doesn't really plan ahead of time, but he knows what's going to happen because he's been there before.

* If you're in a class where every student doesn't take the exact same courses a Clock King is useful for two reasons. First of all this person will know where his or her classmates are and secondly because he or she knows where you're supposed to be at the very moment.

** The Japanese strict adherence to the timetables may have indirectly caused the April 25, 2005 derailment of a speeding train on a curve near Amagasaki station that killed 107 people. The motorman operating the train had overshot a platform and run a red signal in the half hour prior to the derailment, and he was subsequently operating the train at a much higher rate of speed than normal to make up for lost time. A ''Series/SecondsFromDisaster'' special suggested that the motorman was also thinking about the inevitable penalties he was going to face from rail company JR West[[note]]A retraining program called "Nikkin Kyoiku". While said to be a re-education program, it really consisted of violent verbal abuse, forcing the employees to repent by writing extensive reports. Also, during these times, drivers were forced to perform menial tasks, particularly involving cleaning, instead of their normal jobs. Many saw the process of "Nikkin Kyoiku" as a punishment and psychological torture, and not as driver retraining. The motorman of the train that crashed at Amagasaki had previously spent time in Nikkin Kyoiku for overshooting a platform by 100 meters the year before the derailment.[[/note]] and wasn't thinking about how his train was going dangerously faster than was safe. Thus, the train ended up hitting a curve with a 43 mph speed limit at a speed of 72 mph and went off the tracks.

* The Master Timekeeper (called the Ticktockman, but not to his face) in Creator/HarlanEllison's short story "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman" not only is a Clock King but he runs the entire world on time and on schedule.

* Malvolio Bent of the'' Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/MakingMoney'', who resets the bank's clock every day when it falls two seconds behind. The novel's protagonist, Moist von Lipwig, demonstrates the capacity to memorize and exploit others' schedules when he breaks Owlswick Jenkins out of the Tanty, although he dislike adhering to one himself.
** The earlier novel ''Discworld/ThiefOfTime'' features Jeremy Clockson, a clockmaker who produces the world's most accurate timepieces and is implied to have assaulted or possibly even killed another member of the guild for deliberately setting his clock fast. [[spoiler:He turns out to be the son of the anthropomorphic personification of Time itself.]]