It's an interesting concept. Although without some idea of what number the hand is chasing, it seems basically impossible to figure out how to optimize the numbers to keep the time difference down. And if there is a way to know that, I couldn't find it.
Thanks for feedback!
I initially thought to make target ticks larger, but I then discarded the ideas because I wanted the player to come up with their own strategy if they needed. And also optimization is not main goal if you can win without it so I thought not to break the symmetric look for that.
Anyway here is a strategy you can use.
"Notice when the hand gets slower, for example if hand gets slower when it is about to reach 4 you know that next target is 5. If you can't reposition 5, try 6 as it will be the next."