That the French are never happy is accepted.
That they gave us the first, lasting, and practical vernier is reasonable justification. Along with L. Moinet's chronograph and John Harrison's mechanical adaptation for interpreting longitude...
That the rest of the free world accepts it, is theirs.
That the machinists, mechanics, and engineers make them work together is a marvel, and ours to select.

While the Babylonians instigated a 60 unit base isn't all bad. Ask a navigator.
The 360 degree circle, a sixty-sixty-sixty hour-minute-second of time, the infinitely calculable arc, and 6000 foot nautical mile work pretty damn well together. Often there isn't time for precision underway. The accurate part was utilized in voyage planning (strategic). Avoidance of hazards leaves marginal time for reactive (tactical) measures to be consumed by accuracy. Strategy and tactics as terminology aren't restricted to combat situations.