Serious geek moments here

[ainu_laire]

I did not realize how long this was until I finished it, but I think it's really interesting, and for those who like working with cross-cultural relations in Middle-earth, I think you'll find this of interest... anyways, read on

Comments

[vilwarien]

I think the reason why the hobbits have clocks and the Gondorians don't is because they live in "Merrie Old England", an idealised Victorian environment. There is no real reason for them to be using clocks, though, because they lack the part of society that would profit from determining the exact time of the day.
It was the sun that determined what you did when (saves resources such as fuel or candles). Bells are a good enough clue to tell you how much time you have left, especially when you aren't outside to observe the sun yourself. And anyway, I doubt that many people in Gondor would be able to afford a clock. As far as I know we aren't told if Denethor had any other kind of timepiece (please correct me if I'm wrong), so maybe there were some things around for the social classes that needed fixed times.

Since I also like to speculate: On the other hand, there is no reason why they couldn't have fixed minutes and have the day start at sunup - if you let the bells toll throughout the night (you won't hear them after a few nights). Wake them up with some extra tolls and the normal hourly toll afterwards will be the first hour. But if you do not cut the day in half and make "day" and "night" hours, this would mean a significant difference in the amount of hours you can fit into a physical day between summer and winter. I like the idea of having 12 hours in there, though, because it's such an important number to the elves.