This clock was designed and built as a gift for my sister-in-law’s wedding. My wife has four younger sisters, and I myself have two younger sisters. I decided a while ago that I wanted to build something special for each sister’s wedding. Of course, shortly after I decided I was going to do this, the first sister announced her upcoming wedding.

After reading about and looking at as many clock design posts online as I could find, I decided that I would build a wall clock. I wanted it to be a Vienna Regulator-style clock, with a movement utilizing weights instead of springs for power (I’m kind-of “old-school” like that). I spent a long time working on the design (probably over a month of elapsed time, but only working on it for a few hours per week). I agonized over small design decisions. I took forever to decide what kind of wood I wanted to use. I debated over which movement I wanted to use. Finally, about three months before the shower, I started major work on the case.

My wife and I hosted her wedding shower on a Saturday in May, and that was when I was supposed to give her the clock. The local glass shop misunderstood that I needed the door prior to Saturday so that I could finish finishing it. I called on Thursday wondering what was happening, and they promised to have it ready for me early on Friday. They did, and they did an absolutely beautiful job. They earned all of my future business. I thought I was going to get a loose piece of glass, but they did a great job installing it. The cut is perfect, installed with glazier points (I followed-up with some silicon, too, just because I am nervous like that), and they pencil-rolled the edge. It is absolutely beautiful, from an install point of view. 

I had just enough time to get the finish on it, and my dad helped me mount the door to the case about half an hour before the shower started. During the shower, I would sometimes take a break (I was the caterer, too) to come and install some other piece of hardware, like the knob on the door, the door catch, felt pads to soften the door close and to protect the wall, etc. It was exciting.

This was one of the first complex projects that I had ever undertaken.  I started from the ground-up with detailed plans and drawings, making sure to find and solve as many potential problems as I could before I started to cut wood.  This approach saved lots of stock and shop time fixing problems, and allowed me to focus on building the clock well and making it look as close to perfect as I could.  In addition, having the plans allowed me time to photograph and document the entire building process, which ended up as a CD that went along with the clock as part of the gift. 

This was a fun project, and hopefully the inspiration for many more. 

 

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