The part of the article I was hoping to emphasize with the original title (IIRC it was Tamper-resistant time-keeping) was this: the sandglass was the primary m

The part of the article I was hoping to emphasize with the original title (IIRC it was Tamper-resistant time-keeping) was this: the sandglass was the primary means of fair timekeeping. The sand glass was visible to all in a room, and it could only be dramatically and obviously “reset”, it couldn’t be fudged like a mechanical clock. By virtue of being highly visible and slow to reset thus difficult to sabotage made it an ideal tool not just for time-keeping in general, but dedicating time to activities where fairness and equality were important. The simplicity of the mechanism hides the sophistication of its action - being an auditable accounting system.