What if the mechanical clock had gone differently?

Weight-driven escapement clocks appear in European monasteries and towns.

If it had gone differently: Time stays local and approximate; there is no habit of measuring the world in exact, repeatable units.

The real history on Wikipedia ↗

Later turning points that leaned on the mechanical clock. Change it in the game and the ripples reach all of these.

1. 1600The Scientific Revolution. Without it, Natural philosophy stays deferential to the ancients; no method, no acceleration.
2. 1780The Industrial Revolution. Without it, Growth stays flat and Malthusian; most people alive in 1900 live about as their great-grandparents did.