An animated film, sponsored by Rolex Watches, using various symbols and devices to dramatize man's discovery and mastery of the hours. Sun-worshippers; measuring the hours by the shadows of obelisk and sundial; the first clocks, driven by the elements a Chinese fire clock, a Persian water clock, a sand clock. The mechanical clocks and watches of the 18th century are symbolized by a ballet of pendulums and seconds. In the present time, a wrist watch floats down into the depths of the ocean to the jaws of a shell—the perfected, waterproof, self-winding chronometer.