The bell above the door rang as an older woman stepped into the shop, holding one wrist carefully in her other hand. “Good afternoon,” said the shopkeeper. “What can I help you find?” “Only a repair, I hope.” She unfastened her watch and laid it on the counter. A thin crack crossed the glass. “Caught it against a stone doorway. It still keeps time, but I’d rather not let the damp in.” “I can’t promise anything,” he said, reaching for his spectacles, “but I’ll take a look.” Beneath the cracked lens, an ornate hour hand stood motionless. The numbered ring turned beneath it. The minute hand followed the wandering scale, while a small emblem at the center ticked steadily backward. The shopkeeper leaned closer. “Has it always done this?” “Done what?” “The numbers move.” “Well, yes.” He waited for her to explain. She waited for him to continue. “And the hour hand stays still?” “Where else would you put it?” The shopkeeper looked up. “Usually, we let it travel around the dial.” She smiled politely. Then, seeing that he was serious, her smile faded. He unfastened his own watch and placed it beside hers. For several moments, she said nothing. She lifted it, turned it sideways, and watched the hands. “Is this a trick?” “No.” “The numbers stay there?” “Yes.” “And you have to follow that little hand all the way around?” “That’s how we read the hour.” “Who made yours?” he asked. “A clockmaker near my home. His mother made my first one.” “And they all work this way?” “Every one I’ve owned.” She touched the cracked glass. “My husband used to say the hand had nowhere to go. The hours would come to it soon enough.” The shopkeeper looked again at his own wrist. Until that afternoon, he had never thought there was anything to explain. She glanced toward the shelves, apparently searching for someone enjoying the joke. Then she looked back at the watch. “Could I buy one?” The shopkeeper considered the two timepieces on his counter. “I could offer you a trade.” Her eyes narrowed with interest. “A watch like mine for yours. And something else to accompany it.” He took a small compass from a nearby shelf and set it beside his watch. “The Cartographer’s Compass. A gift.” She studied its face, then returned her attention to the ordinary watch. “You’re certain? Mine still needs a new lens.” “I’m certain.” “Well,” she said, “I suppose glass is easier to replace than whatever has happened inside this one.” They exchanged watches. She fastened her new acquisition around her wrist, raising it close to her eyes. The hour hand had barely moved. Somehow, that seemed to trouble her more. At the door, she stopped and looked back. “An hour hand that wanders, numbers that refuse to move…” She shook her head, delighted. “What an impossible watch.” The compass disappeared into her coat pocket. “I can’t wait to show my friends.” The bell rang, and she was gone. For a moment, he wondered what sort of doorway she had struck, and where it stood. Outside his own door, the familiar street lay quiet. He could ask her another day, if she ever found her way back. Behind the counter, the shopkeeper examined the watch she had left. Its fixed hand waited patiently as the next hour approached. He checked it against the clock above the door. Precisely right. Replacing the lens proved much simpler than understanding what lay beneath it. He found a glass of the proper size, lifted out the cracked one, and seated its replacement neatly in the rim. A few minutes’ work. Nothing more. He polished away a thumbprint and held the watch beneath the lamp. The numbers continued their quiet journey. The little emblem ticked backward. Everything worked exactly as it should. Remembering the woman’s parting words, he smiled. Then he reached for a small label and wrote: The Impossible Watch. He placed it on the shelf, ready for someone who might find it perfectly ordinary.

A Note from the Shopkeeper Before you mistake this watch for a broken one, allow me to explain. I have checked it quite carefully. It keeps excellent time. Reading it simply requires a small adjustment of habit. The Hour The shorter, broader hand stays pointed upward. It is the numbered ring that moves, turning counterclockwise once every twelve hours. Read the number beneath the fixed hand. Between hours, the hand points between the corresponding numbers, just as it would on an ordinary watch. At half past three, for example, it sits halfway between 3 and 4. The Minute The longer hand reads the same moving ring. Each number represents five minutes: 1 means five, 2 means ten, and so on. The 12 marks zero minutes. The four small ticks between each pair of numbers mark the individual minutes. Because the ring moves, the minute hand adjusts its position along with it. Read the mark beneath its tip rather than the direction it points across your wrist. Thirty minutes is wherever the 6 happens to be. At 3:30, the fixed hour hand points between 3 and 4, while the minute hand points to 6. Both readings come from the same ring. The Centerpiece The ornamental background turns clockwise once every six hours. It contributes no additional time reading; it is simply part of the watch’s unusual character. You may discover four small QR monograms concealed within its carving. The Seconds The QR medallion above the hands turns counterclockwise, completing one revolution every sixty seconds. While the watch face is awake, it takes one backward step each second. This is a seconds animation, not a hand to read against the outer minute scale. Its little pointer makes the passing seconds visible. When the Watch Rests The seconds animation pauses when the watch face enters its low-power state. The time continues to advance, and the moving parts return to their calculated positions when the face wakes. Once you become accustomed to it, reading the watch is quite straightforward. The woman who brought it here certainly thought so. She found my own watch considerably harder to believe. —The Shopkeeper