A distribution of clocks in different rulers in a 3D plane

Starting, for example as MWE from the answer's Torbjørn T. at this question plotting a grid like this with TikZ,

\documentclass[tikz,border=4mm]{standalone}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[>=stealth]
% draw axis lines
\draw [->] (-0.5,0) -- (5,0) node[below]{$n$};
\draw [->] (0,-0.5) -- (0,3) node[left]{$k$};

% place bullets
\foreach \x in {0,1,2,3}
\foreach \y in {0,0.2,...,2}

% place ticklabels below x-axis
\foreach \x/\txt in {1/L,2/2L,3/3L}
\node [below] at (\x,0) {$\txt$};

% place ticklabel for y-axis
\node [left] at (0,2) {$N-1$};

% place 2pi/n-node left of axis
\node [left=1.4cm,inner xsep=0pt] (A) at (0,1) {$\frac{2\pi}{n}$};

% dots on the far right
\node at (4,1) {$\dots$};

% draw lines from fourth and fifth bullet to a coordinate relative to the 2pi/n node
% (vertical separation of bullets is 0.2)
\draw (0, 4*0.2) to[out=180,in=0] ([yshift=-0.5cm,xshift=2pt]A.south west);
\draw (0, 5*0.2) to[out=180,in=0] ([yshift=0.5cm,xshift=2pt]A.north west);

% draw arrows
\draw [->] (A.north) -- ++(0,0.5cm);
\draw [->] (A.south) -- ++(0,-0.5cm);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

I would like to understand how to draw vertical rods (graduated rulers) of this 1 st picture

where the clocks that beat a generic time (rectangle with strange numbers) shall be replaced by simply circular clocks of the type shown in the 2 nd picture

With this modality I can change the background color of the clock and of the lancets.

• @Bernard Thank you very much for edit my scarce English language. – Sebastiano Mar 31 '19 at 20:31
• Typos happen so easily! So when I'm strolling around, I can't resist correcting it, if only to make it more pleasant to read for potential helpers. – Bernard Mar 31 '19 at 20:38

Something like this? This is 3d.

\documentclass[tikz,border=3.14mm]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz-3dplot}
\usetikzlibrary{3d,decorations.markings}
\tikzset{Sebastiano/.is family,
Sebastiano/.cd,
minute arm/.style={shorten >=0.5mm},
hour arm/.style={thick,shorten >=1.5mm},
random clock/.style={semithick,fill=white},
\begin{document}
\tdplotsetmaincoords{60}{20}
\begin{tikzpicture}[tdplot_main_coords,pics/random clock/.style={code={
\tikzset{Sebastiano/.cd,#1}
\pgfmathsetmacro{\mytime}{rnd*720}
\pgfmathsetmacro{\minute}{mod(\mytime,60)}
\pgfmathsetmacro{\hour}{\mytime/5}
\draw[Sebastiano/random clock] (0,0)
\draw[Sebastiano/hour arm] (0,0) -- (\hour:\pgfkeysvalueof{/tikz/Sebastiano/clock radius});
\draw[Sebastiano/minute arm] (0,0) -- (\minute:\pgfkeysvalueof{/tikz/Sebastiano/clock radius});
}},ruler/.style={postaction={decorate,decoration={markings,
mark=between positions 0 and 1 step 5pt with {\draw (0,-#1/2) -- (0,#1/2);}}}}]
\begin{scope}[canvas is xz plane at y=0,transform shape]
\draw[double=cyan,double distance=4pt,ruler=4pt] (-4,-2.4) grid[step=pi/2] (4,4);
\path foreach \X in {-2,...,2}
{foreach \Y in {-1,...,2}
{ (\X*pi/2,\Y*pi/2) pic{random clock={minute arm/.append style={red},
hour arm/.append style={blue}}}}};
\end{scope}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

If you do not want 3d, just set \tdplotsetmaincoords{90}{00} to obtain

I hope the syntac

pic{random clock={minute arm/.append style={red},
hour arm/.append style={blue}}

is self-explanatory. If you want someone who draws "mathematicians axes" then I am not your guy. I explained here, why. I will be happy to add axes in orthographic projections, but this stuff discussed here has IMHO no place in a modern textbook. On the blackboard this is still fine.

• The clocks are very nice (perfect)...but thay must to stay in the vertical bars as the 1st picture in a 3d plane. – Sebastiano Mar 31 '19 at 22:06
• @Sebastiano You only need to adjust the view angle. I added an example. – user121799 Mar 31 '19 at 22:14
• @Sebastiano Can you please provide a sketch of what you want? 1) Of course you can color the hands. They are in the in the commands \draw[semithick] (0,0) circle[radius=0.5cm]; \draw[thick] (0,0) -- (\hour:0.35);, just try out \draw[semithick,blue] (0,0) circle[radius=0.5cm]; \draw[thick,red] (0,0) -- (\hour:0.35); 2) How many? 3) Do you want an orthographic projection or not? See tex.stackexchange.com/a/448048/121799 for why I am asking. P.S. Will go to basketball very soon. – user121799 Mar 31 '19 at 22:24
• @Sebastiano Frankly, the sketch is not 100% clear because you said that you do not want to reproduce the sketch. Is it better now? – user121799 Apr 1 '19 at 1:40
• @Sebastiano Yes. If you add \pgfmathsetseed{...} where ... is an integer of your choice, at the beginning of the tikzpicture, the result should be the same for every compilation. – user121799 Apr 4 '19 at 16:00