Seiko Institute of Horology / Incense burner clock
The Seiko Institute of Horology (now The Seiko Museum) was opened in 1981 as part of a project to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of Seiko. The museum displays research materials related to time and timepieces produced in Japan and other countries around the world. (For more information, see the February 2009 issue of the PR magazine pla-topia.) http://museum.seiko.co.jp/
This is an incense burner clock. It utilizes the principle of the incense burning at a fixed rate, with the incense powder ash filling frames, and the time measured by the length of incense burnt. Some clocks utilized incense sticks, and rather than clocks, these were used as timers.
