Making Custom Clocks

Everyone needs to know what time it is several times a day.  Homes need clocks, businesses need clocks, children's rooms need clocks (especially when learning how to tell time).  Cafes, coffee shops, restaurants, work shops, arcades, supermarkets, and just about any other kind of place you can think of — all of them need clocks.

And clocks are already in the market for nearly any kind of specialized location or service there is.  Not to mention wrist watches, computer clocks, church bells, clock towers, radios that announce time, TV broadcasting that tells us the time, phones that offer the time, and so on.  It might seem like time is pretty well covered.  But that isn't quite the case.  Not by a long shot.

There is a very large market for unique clocks.  Clocks with taste.  Clocks with no taste at all, but they are very unusual.  Clocks that do a lot more than merely tell the time.  This kind of clock can find a good home in shopping centers, churches, offices, peoples living rooms or dens, bedrooms, restaurants, and other special places where people may gather and have a little time on their hands.  No puns intended.

The Business of Unique Clocks

What makes a clock unique?  What makes it stand out from the crowd?  A walk through any retailer offering clocks will show you that some very clever designs and styles are already out there, on the shelf, ready to take home.  Even in large discount stores, an interesting assortment of clocks are usually available for the buying public.  So how might someone succeed in the business of making and selling truly unique clocks?

It isn't as difficult as it may seem.  But you may want to consider the fact that you will need a good work area.  This is definitely a business for which you should have a workshop that is separated from your living space. 

You will need a good-sized work area, and some tools.  You will be working with wood and other materials.  You will make good use of a drill press, although you may not absolutely need one at first.  A Table saw, and work tables and clamps (as used in woodworking), and a scroll saw or band saw (they are not the same thing, but you may get away with having either one, to start off with).   You need space for projects to sit and dry, and it saw dust, as well as other debris, will likely be scattered about while you work on various projects.  If this business is to be your sole source of income, you will need room for working on several projects at once, in various stages of completion.

Now, what makes a clock unique is its design.  Making a clock to fit a specific kind of space, and a very special place is one way to make a clock unique.  The special size of a clock may also make it unique.  How it fits in with other functions in a room or area, and the special functions of its own design can make a clock unique.

The inside workings of a clock may be taken from any number of sources.  Some of those sources are worthy of your own time and money, and some are not.  Most likely, but not necessarily, you will buy the inner clockworks from a manufacturer.  These works may be battery operated or mechanical.  They may be very large or very small.  They should be made (and you should verify that they are) by a good and reputable manufacturer.  German and Swiss clocks tend to be well made, but you must be sure of the exact maker, and not be gullible.  A reseller may tell you just about anything in order to make a sale.

There are other good makes of clocks, from various places around the world.  What you must be sure of is that the clock works well.  If it fails to keep time, or if it breaks down without good reason, you will be the one who loses money.  And you may also lose the good reputation you are so desperate to build.    Your reputation as a maker of unusual and excellent (that is, dependable) clocks is what will build your business into a successful enterprise.

If you are already a very good craftsman with wood (or metal) then you already have a great advantage.  But if you are only moderately good, you may still do very well, if you find such work enjoyable and satisfying beyond the money itself.  The key is to develop designs that you can build.  At the very least, you must be able to make some form of attractive box, in which you can make a hole, into which you can place a clockworks and face.  The works of the clock will need to be wound, if mechanical, or to have batteries replaced, if it is battery operated.  So when designing and building, remember to make allowances for whatever regular maintenance is required.

A unique clock may stand alone as a piece of furniture in a room.  It may stand in a corner or against a wall, as would a grandfather or grandmother clock.  With today's time-keeping technology, you don't have to build a true grandfather clock, with chains, weights, pendulum and so on.  You can build a nice corner clock, for example, with the clock face and works at the top and book shelves or drawers or doors below.  Or you can make a large archway clock with a mantle or even a doorway.

The clock in the above illustration, by the way, need not be made entirely of wood.  It can be boxed in with plywood and covered with a stucco-like coating, or it can be framed with 2x4s and 1x2s (regular construction pine or fir), and then covered in cloth and paper, or whatever surface you prefer for esthetics and function.  Clock faces big as the one in the picture can often be taken and modified from clocks found at popular retailers for much less than you may expect to p[ay. 

Pricing is important.  You are not building common pieces.  You do not need to try and be the cheapest clock maker in town.  If you sell to building contractors or professional interior decorators, make sure you get your money on delivery.  If they don't pay, don't leave the clock.  If they complain, you must explain that you have already shelled out money for materials, and have also invested your time and skill up front.  (For this reason, by the way, standard practice is to demand half the estimated fee in advance, to get the project started.) 

Did I already mention that pricing is important? 

You cannot simply take the cost of materials and double it for your selling price.  Your hours are worth more than the materials invested.  Your creative time and the actual labor are always the greatest cost — to you.  Since you are only one person, you can only be doing one thing at a time.  A day you spend on this clock must bring in enough to make the day work toward paying all your bills.  If you build and sell 30 clocks a month, then your living expenses, mortgage or rent, car payments, and all the other bills you have must be divided by 30 in order to reach the amount you absolutely must charge for a day's work.  But we both know that you will probably never build 30 clocks a month.  Especially not at first.  So charge according to the real situation.  You can either work yourself to death, trying to build and sell a thousand clocks a month, because you charge too little, or you can build some very special and wonderfully creative clocks each month and get paid enough to afford this business as a career.

New Clock Ideas

Stop for a moment and think about all the various kinds of clocks that are already out there.  Cuckoo clocks helped to make the Black Forest of Germany famous. Swiss clockworks are considered by many to be the very best.  England has a great history of clocks, and America also has a remarkable heritage.  I could go on and on.  Japan has its own clock making industry, as does China.  And then there is the ancient and mysterious Antikythera mechanism (see online Smithsonian magazine article) that is widely thought to be some kind of time keeping device.

I urge you to do some searching online for clocks of various kinds.  You will be amazed and inspired by the astonishing variety.  Study old wood patterns on the cabinets, and look at the mechanical works.  Allow your mind to dwell on the designs of old clocks.  Walk through some antique and second-hand stores.  Pay attention to the details of old clocks that appeal to you.  Do you like the faces, the hands, the carvings and other forms of decoration.  Are you taken by the gears and springs and weights?

Even a clock that does not rely on mechanical works or weights can be decorated so as to bring such things to mind.  Clock faces can be created on your computer with a graphics program and printed off on a color printer (either at home or at a copy shop).  New hands can be carved from wood or cut from metal.  Cabinets can be built in your shop.  You can also order any of these things from other manufacturers.

One great idea that can incorporated into new designs are the works themselves.  You can buy plans for wooden gears, for example, and cut them yourself in your own shop, creating a clock with visible and accurate works made of wood.  One such place is Marc Tovar's Wooden Clockworks in Utah.  Choose from several designs.  Add an appropriate cabinet and you have a most unusual clock, and certainly a unique one.  Other sources of wood clockwork kits and plans can also be found online.

I talk a lot about big clocks, but they need not be big.  You might want to specialize in desktop clocks, mantle clocks, even smaller stand alone clocks that rest on the floor.  You may even decide to produce clocks for boats or other special places, like restaurants.

I think that any unique clock should reflect, in some way, its environment.  It should fit with the rest of the decor and style of the room, lobby or hallway.  Cafe clocks should be suited to the cafe where they are placed.  Clocks for a child's room, a school room, a bank or lawyer's office, etc., should each fit the situation and be designed just for that purpose.

Not every clock needs to be huge or absolutely significant to the history of art and decor.  But enough of them need to be unusual and special enough to give you a very good name.  Building your name is the first big priority.  Behave like a starving artist, and you will always be starving.  Behave a like a professional, highly skilled business person, and you will never lack for business or money.  Be dependable.  Be trustworthy.  Do not be moody.  Do not be unorganized.  Do not be sloppy in your work, your housekeeping, your thinking or your handling of money.  Be smart.  The world already has more stupid people than are needed.

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