Arduino Based Auto Timer / Stop Watch Timer for stroking time Measurement

The Need:
Last week around at work I had another usual un-usual  problem to face with.  Having to make lots of mechanisms n components to work with-in seconds or fracs at times I kind-of knew this was always coming.

And invariably so my poor mind couldn't think of anything but Arduino for a handy solution that should be compact, flexible, highly customizable, rugged and most importantly easier to work around.

Step 1: The Problem:

What we had is an arm moving around from an actuator which we would like to tap with some contact type micro switces (limit switches) to give a feed-back signal as the awkward figure suggests.