I might add.....some parts from Cygnal, like C8051F020 part, have the PCA timer array on board. This is a 16 bit timer mechanism. This timer has a special option whereby it is possible to use the TIMER1 Overflow as the clocking input to the PCA clock. Using this you can realize 32-bits righ on the processor. Note this is also on the C8051F126 part with main oscillator clocking up to 50MHz. This the counters can clock quite fast.
Michael Karas