Talking of batteries - when I found the Avo I'd forgotten, I found it had batteries in. Fortunately they hadn't leaked. Expiry date on them was April 2003, and they still worked.
The main six instruments on the majority of aircraft are as standardised as is possible. This is true both for the physical position of the instruments as well as the way they provide information which will be evident from a quick look at the various instruments on google images.
Engine instruments are generally aligned in columns left to right, corresponding to the position of the respective powerplant. Their vertical order is generally standardised depending on the powerplant type and, to some extent, the particular parameters the manufacturer or operator wishes to be used. Additional standardisation is achieved through ensuring clockwise indicator movements correspond to increasing quantities; coloured arcs for characteristic limitations; standardised textual statements printed on an instrument card for those instruments which come in different 'flavours'; etc.
There's no question that something like an altitude deviation is more apparent on a needle-based instrument than on a modern primary flight display's altitude tape indicator. During periods of high workload a mere fraction of a second is spent glancing at each of the main instruments in sequence, in a pattern dictated by the manoeuvre being flown. The need to maintain a constant scan pattern of the main instruments during 'raw data' flying means engine instrument need to reveal abnormal or unexpected information during a brief glance. Apart from visual/aural warning systems, there's no better way of detecting a developing abnormality than by checking analogue instruments (or their digital counterparts as used on an EICAS/ECAM).
I think I can trump that. Here's my very first meter, c1963. It still works, the only real problem being that the red scales on the dial have faded over time:
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