Clocks go clockwise because sundials were originally used in the Northern Hemisphere.
The clock that we use today was originally developed from the sundial, which used the sun to cast a shadow that would tell what the time was. In fact, before clocks had become popular the term wasn’t “clockwise,” it was “sunwise,” because that’s the way the rotation went.
However, had the sundial been developed in the Southern Hemisphere, our clockwise may very well have moved counterclockwise. The reason for this is simple. A sundial must be placed southward in the Northern Hemisphere to function correctly. When the sun rises in the sky east to south to west, the shadow that is projected moves in the opposite direction, west to north to east, or clockwise.
This is why when developing modern clocks inventors simply made the hands move in the same direction. If a sundial is placed in the Southern Hemisphere however, the motion is reversed and the clock would spin counterclockwise!
