On the works pc I can view the schematic png's, but not the tar file.
Yes I can make sort of sense of that, as much as a Sunday will allow anyway.
The only changes I'd make are the clock, a 4060 and 32.768 xtal would give good time, and on the second schematic, maybe it just because its as you say a representation but you have the 2nd and 3rd 4017's reset inputs floating when not reset, you'd need a pull down resistor to keep them stable.
'pull downs' with 4000 series will work, pull ups tend to be a prefered way esp with ttl or hc.
My nixie clocks use 4017's, in a different manner, 4 or 6 tubes and 1 4017, a pic clocks the 4017 to the correct output then turns on the correct tube, and so on as a multiplex, I can drive 60 neon segments with 8 o/p pins on the micro, no extra logic, you could do it with 3 pins using 2 4017's.