Unique Clocks

In our article on famous clocks we have covered some of the largest and most culturally significant timepieces around the world. That leaves a small gap for smaller but nonetheless interesting clocks that already have been or are being developed. Take a look with us at some of these unique timepieces.

The Atmos Clock

Atmos is a brand name for a mechanical torsion pendulum clock manufactured in Switzerland by famous watchmaker Jaeger-LeCoultre. This special mechanism does not need to be wound manually and instead gets the energy needed to run from temperature and atmospheric pressure changes in the surrounding environment. This type of clock can therefore run for years without human assistance and does so via the expansion and contraction of liquid and gaseous ethyl chloride in an airtight bellows, which drives the mainspring.

Beverly Clock

Similar to the Atmos Clock, the Beverly Clock, designed by Arthur Beverly, runs by having its mechanism driven by fluctuations in atmospheric pressure and daily temperature changes. These variations cause air contained in an air-tight box to expand and contract, thus moving an attached diaphragm. This creates pressure enough to drive the internal mechanism of the clock, resultantly the clock has not required winding since its creation in 1864.

Clock of the Long Now

Sponsored by Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, for $42 million, this mechanical clock is still under construction on private land owned by Bezos in Texas. Said to be capable of keeping time to 10,000 years, a prototype has already been made and once constructed it will be displayed on top of Mount Washington in Nevada. The purpose of the clock has been explained by founding board member of the foundation, Stewart Brand: "Such a clock, if sufficiently impressive and well-engineered, would embody deep time for people. It should be charismatic to visit, interesting to think about, and famous enough to become iconic in the public discourse. Ideally, it would do for thinking about time what the photographs of Earth from space have done for thinking about the environment. Such icons reframe the way people think."