Time to ponder

Is there a story? This is a very curious timepiece indeed. Maritime?

My wife had admired these in a local shop for a while so I eventually bought her one and it has sat on the side ever since

I think it's made by a company called Stonesplitter Clocks - they are a Raku style pottery and each clock has a tiny mouse figure somewhere about itself. It's a lovely item, only let down very slightly by a very basic quartz battery mechanism.