“Buddha is one” doesn’t say anything. He meditated and meditated, and finally he sat under the Bodhi tree and vowed to not get up until he was enlightened. That took some time, but he accomplished it. It doesn’t matter what several thousand unnamed others did, because we are talking about the Buddha and Buddhism.

The scale you describe is one among many in Buddhism. You say there is only one. Which is correct? Remember we should humble. Perhaps ‘our’ scale is not the only one.

Who is the observer, and what the observed? Are they like the mind and muscles that you say are ‘not a like comparison’? How is mind different than muscles? Or the reverse? Do muscles stand outside of mind? Other than mind? Are you sure?

One last thing… being without duration is just a mental phantasm.

You see, the real point here is not that one “watches” the clock. It’s that you use a clock to stop what might go on forever. Even someone who only watches ‘being’ is necessarily watching the duration of being—for what else is being? Muscles perhaps. Training the mind and training muscles are the same then. ☺️