Relatively New
In newer physics, especially in the theory of relativity, time plays a role quite different from that in classical mechanics. It is no longer the universal, the absolute one. It can only be specified relatively, relative to the frame of reference, which, at first, in special relativity, is determined only by its motion; later, in general relativity, other physical properties are added. After all, it are the physical objects, the things, that have direct influence on the course of time.
This effect, however, is seldom stated explicitly. The fact that even the run of clocks is essentially dependent on the things and on the particular view these things give focus to is occasionally mentioned, but mostly encrypted and instantly disguised behind rather esoteric (for non-initiated not understandable) mathematical equations. It threatens the claim to universality of the laws of physics, which apparently ought not to be abandoned.