I was asking myself how people measured time before mechanical clocks, and I completely forgot about hourglasses. I wonder if the development of mechanics was

I was asking myself how people measured time before mechanical clocks, and I completely forgot about hourglasses. I wonder if the development of mechanics was hindered by the lack of standardized time-keeping. I've read that Galileo used his own pulse to measure pendular motion, and I find that highly impractical.