Is this an assignment question for a class? Just in case I'm not going to answer you outright, but lead you into thinking about a couple of scenarios.
If you are using a 16 bit processor then the maximum timer preset you can have is 32767. Some PLCs, particularly those that use BCD integers, have a maximum timer preset of 9999 (or even 999 on some older models). So if the only time base that is available is .001 seconds I think you can see where there would be a serious problem. How difficult would it be to program a five minute delay in that case?
What if the only timebase available was 1 second, what problems can you see that causing? Multiple time bases increase your options. Don't get hung up on it.