you said it doesn’t run on batteries but COULD run on them. Does that mean that it is powered by electricity then?
he means that it could be used as an alternative energy source apart from the main mechanism … btw , he is not our oldest member our oldest member is 75 or something …
Maybe it works by recording the “time stream” 
Well, it means you can post in the 30 years or older? topic. 
It means that it’s powered on something if it worked out of heavenly magic, it wouldn’t make sense to comment that it could be adapted into working with batteries 
There are no batteries but today it could be re-made to run on them
[spoiler]…Of course the earliest clocks were not electric and usually had a key that was needed to wind a movement. They [mystery clocks] are considered to be in a similar category as novelty clocks.
My research has been mainly confined to a certain type of mystery clock having hands mounted on a clear glass face with no obvious way of driving the hands. The Jefferson Electric Golden Hour clock is a good example of the appeal and fascination for this type of design. The entire glass disc slowly rotates at one revolution per hour. The glass is attached to a gear in the rim that is driven by a motor and gears in the base…
https://www.roger-russell.com/mysteryclocks/mysteryclocks.htm
[/spoiler]
Good deductive reasoning, Bruno. Unless, of course, there is still some Anglo-Saxon witchcraft involved. 