The timey-wimey detector was a makeshift device used for detecting temporal anomalies by the Tenth Doctor. He used it when he was trapped in 1969 by the Weeping Angels to detect others who had been sent back in time. It looked like a late-20th century portable open-reel tape recorder with only one spool. It alerted the Doctor to an anomaly by dinging. The Doctor's vague explanation to Billy Shipton as to its function was that "it [went] 'ding' when [there was] stuff." The Eleventh Doctor used one on an encounter with the Weeping Angels. (PROSE: Touched by an Angel)