whatPantaleone's tabletop, drawn in ink: seven metronomes ticking at slightly different tempos, standing on one plank that rides on rollers. Each escapement pumps its own pendulum; every swing kicks the plank; the plank's recoil kicks everyone else. The recoil is the only conversation.

whyThe claim: they synchronize THROUGH the base. No conductor, no wires -- just conservation of momentum -- and the Kuramoto order parameter r climbs from scattered to above 0.95, timed and printed. You can see the agreement arrive twice: the pendulums fall into step, and the plank itself begins to sway in time, its amplitude the chorus made visible. Click to lock the plank: the channel closes, and the seven private tempos reassert themselves, r sagging back toward chance. Click again to free it and watch the negotiation start over.

howVan der Pol escapements (amplitude self-set at 0.42 rad) on pendulums with a seeded 2 percent tempo spread; the plank obeys the summed reaction forces of every escapement, damped on its rollers; the coupling is the plank's acceleration seen from each pivot, plus pivot friction against the board's velocity -- the dissipative term that picks in-phase over splay. Its sign was determined by experiment: reversed, the seven settle into a permanent splay. Fixed 240 Hz substeps, everything seeded; the story locks the plank once the chorus holds and frees it once the drift is undeniable.