I believe they are technically version vectors, which I've mentioned in other talks, but I haven't been sure if the distinction is helpful and I haven't been confident enough yet to explain the nuances. Will check out the link
Ok - the reason I ask is because when I needed to figure some of that stuff out, I had more or less the same reaction you did in your talk. I'm still not 100% of everything :-)
https://haslab.wordpress.com/2011/07/08/version-vectors-are-... - are you sure what you described is a version clock, and not a version vector? I'll readily admit to not having a thorough enough grasp of both to feel confident in making that call.