The implication was of course that once He had built the clock, it was going to run entirely by itself. Steuart’s watch (= economy) shares with the clock (= universe) the quality of being a finely built mechanism that should not be tampered with by arbitrary outside interference, but by choosing the image of a watch he manages to convey both the impossibility of arbitrary and careless handling and the need for frequent corrective moves by the solicitous and expert “statesman.”
