At the beginning of the story, Farquhar’s incessantly ticking watch foreshadows his impending death. After the narrator describes the soldiers surrounding Farquhar on the bridge, Farquhar attempts to focus his final thoughts on his family, only to be distracted by a frightening ticking sound that the narrator reveals to be his watch:
He awaited each stroke with impatience and — he knew not why — apprehension. The intervals of silence grew progressively longer; the delays became maddening. With their greater infrequency the sounds increased in strength and sharpness. They hurt his ear like the thrust of a knife; he feared he would shriek. What he heard was the ticking of his watch.
This section marks a shift in the straightforward narration of the opening, turning to foreshadow his imminent death while adding to the foreboding mood and tone. The constant ticking of his watch sparks fear in Farquhar. He awaits each stroke of his watch with “impatience" and "apprehension"—two things that readers themselves begin to feel as the watch ticks on.
Furthermore, the simile describing how the ticking sounds “hurt his ear like the thrust of a knife” is especially poignant because it adds to the foreshadowing of his death by evoking images of violence that are similar to the violent end Farquhar ultimately experiences.
Lastly, this passage not only foreshadows his death but also foreshadows the shift in mood and tone later in the story, when Farquhar imagines his fervent escape. The watch does not behave like a normal watch: the ticking sounds become infrequent, and “with their greater infrequency the sounds increased in strength and sharpness.” Instead of steadily marking the passage of time, the watch begins to distort into an altered reality, foreshadowing the shift in perception later in the story while adding suspense.
