In Back to the Future III, set in 1885, the first glimpse of the courthouse’s kabalistic clock face–its clock tower–is when it is being delivered (top), displaying a time of 10:04, anticipating the November 12th, 1955, 10:04 p.m. lightning strike that will cease it from operating. When Marty and Doc pose for a picture before the clock face (bottom), the time is 8:08 or 88, the mileage necessary for the DeLorean to break the spacetime continuum. The time 10:04 is also an allusion to the date October 4th, when there are 88 days remaining to the end of the year on the solar calendar.
Robert W. Sullivan IV 