Making a Fossil Clock

[Sagebrush Steve]

I know "Fossil" is already the name of a watch company here in the USA, but being in the middle of a pandemic with nothing else to do, I decided to create my own fossil clock,  I was inspired by a small mantel clock we already own, but I wanted something big enough to display a reasonable-size fossil.  I started designing it around Christmas, bought the walnut board in January, and have been working on putting it together ever since.  I'm not done, but it's at least together enough to show what it will look like.  I wanted it to be a chiming clock, so I bought a Seiko quartz movement that sounds Westminster chimes on the quarter hour.  It also has a photodetector that shuts off the chimes at night, but Seiko didn't include an easy way to turn them off otherwise, so I had to design a switch that would do so.  I don't want them sounding off when I'm in the middle of a Zoom meeting!

 

For the fossil, I searched through my stash and found a Knightia eocaena I had dug while on a trip out to Wyoming some years ago.  It's not the most spectacular fossil but it was the best I had that would fit inside the frame I designed.  I have made it easily removable from the back so I can replace it when I find something better.  I'm pretty happy with the result, although since it is a first prototype if you look too closely you can see things that should be done better in the future.  Hopefully this will inspire some of you to consider something similar!

 

 

[Coco]

Very nice !

 

Coco

[Scylla]

That clock screams " time to fossil hunt!" to me. Very pretty result.

[Jeffrey P]

When it gets late it should say, "Good Knightia." Very nice clock. Congrats.

[Randyw]

Good job it came out nice

[bthemoose]

Beautifully done!

[siteseer]

I think it looks great.  Most people say to themselves, "I'd like to buy a fossil clock."  Some say, "I'd like to make a fossil clock."

 

When we were kids, our next-door neighbor made all kinds of things out of left over wood: windmills, yard decorations, and even his own grandfather clock.

 

Jess

[Fossildude19]

I like it Steve! 

Well done, sir.  

[FossilNerd]

That’s awesome! Nice job!  

[Ludwigia]

I'd be very proud of that if I were you. Nice work! My clock looks like amateur work in comparison.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Very nice.

A Knightia in wooden armour 

[Sagebrush Steve]

4 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

I'd be very proud of that if I were you. Nice work! My clock looks like amateur work in comparison.

Actually, I came across your post from back in 2013 and it was one of the things that inspired me to do this. 

[RJB]

  I have to say you do some dang nice work Steve. 

 

RB

[Gramps]

17 hours ago, Sagebrush Steve said:

I know "Fossil" is already the name of a watch company here in the USA, but being in the middle of a pandemic with nothing else to do, I decided to create my own fossil clock,  I was inspired by a small mantel clock we already own, but I wanted something big enough to display a reasonable-size fossil.  I started designing it around Christmas, bought the walnut board in January, and have been working on putting it together ever since.  I'm not done, but it's at least together enough to show what it will look like.  I wanted it to be a chiming clock, so I bought a Seiko quartz movement that sounds Westminster chimes on the quarter hour.  It also has a photodetector that shuts off the chimes at night, but Seiko didn't include an easy way to turn them off otherwise, so I had to design a switch that would do so.  I don't want them sounding off when I'm in the middle of a Zoom meeting!

 

For the fossil, I searched through my stash and found a Knightia eocaena I had dug while on a trip out to Wyoming some years ago.  It's not the most spectacular fossil but it was the best I had that would fit inside the frame I designed.  I have made it easily removable from the back so I can replace it when I find something better.  I'm pretty happy with the result, although since it is a first prototype if you look too closely you can see things that should be done better in the future.  Hopefully this will inspire some of you to consider something similar!

 

 

Beautiful clock! Did you use glass in front of the fossil? Also, any chance you have plans to share?

Best wishes.

[Fossilis Willis]

That is a handsome timepiece @Sagebrush Steve, thanks for sharing.

[Sagebrush Steve]

4 hours ago, Gramps said:

Beautiful clock! Did you use glass in front of the fossil? Also, any chance you have plans to share?

Best wishes.

Ha Ha!  I wondered if someone would ask for plans.  I'm an engineer, so of course I created plans, although they ended up being more of "suggestions" rather than exact plans.  I've attached a PDF of them here, but I will warn you they may not make complete sense to anyone other than me, the original designer.  I didn't worry about making them easy for anyone else to follow, they were only for myself.  As for glass, I did not put anything in front of the fossil.  I did cut a sheet of acrylic I got from TAP Plastics to go in front of the clock face, mostly to prevent anyone from reaching in and moving the hands when daylight saving time comes and goes--Seiko assures me that if you rotate the hands backwards you will damage the mechanism, but they didn't see fit to design it so you couldn't do that.

 

Clock with Fossil v3.pdf

 

Edited March 22, 2021 by Sagebrush Steve

[Gramps]

8 minutes ago, Sagebrush Steve said:

Ha Ha!  I wondered if someone would ask for plans.  I'm an engineer, so of course I created plans, although they ended up being more of "suggestions" rather than exact plans.  I've attached a PDF of them here, but I will warn you they may not make complete sense to anyone other than me, the original designer.  I didn't worry about making them easy for anyone else to follow, they were only for myself.  As for glass, I did not put anything in front of the fossil.  I did cut a sheet of acrylic I got from TAP Plastics to go in front of the clock face, mostly to prevent anyone from reaching in and moving the hands when daylight saving time comes and goes--Seiko assures me that if you rotate the hands backwards you will damage the mechanism, but they didn't see fit to design it so you couldn't do that.

 

Clock with Fossil v3.pdf 1.12 MB · 1 download

 

Thanks so much, Steve! The plans are very clear. I'm planning to retire again (for the second time) in about three years. A clock similar to this will be near the top of my future projects. I'm thinking about a fossil leaf in place of the fish, which raises the question: What about a clock in which the "boards" consist of petrified wood slabs instead of modern walnut? (but I won't be attempting that.)

Best wishes.

[Wrangellian]

Nice job! I like that you could change out the fossil periodically, if you have others that are cut to fit the same window.

I've been thinking about the old rockhound standby of taking a largish slab of rock, drilling a hole in the middle for the mechanism, and gluing the numbers around the periphery of the slab. I haven't got past the "thinking about it" stage, but I do have a slab of some kind of conglomerate with a hole already drilled in it, I just don't know offhand where to buy the mechanism (That and whoever I got the slab from had slathered it in resin that is yellowing and peeling but not easily enough). Seems to me a large slab of fossiliferous rock such as crinoidal limestone might look OK.

[Sagebrush Steve]

38 minutes ago, Wrangellian said:

Nice job! I like that you could change out the fossil periodically, if you have others that are cut to fit the same window.

I've been thinking about the old rockhound standby of taking a largish slab of rock, drilling a hole in the middle for the mechanism, and gluing the numbers around the periphery of the slab. I haven't got past the "thinking about it" stage, but I do have a slab of some kind of conglomerate with a hole already drilled in it, I just don't know offhand where to buy the mechanism (That and whoever I got the slab from had slathered it in resin that is yellowing and peeling but not easily enough). Seems to me a large slab of fossiliferous rock such as crinoidal limestone might look OK.

I got my mechanism from clockworks dot com. (Is it okay to say that?).  As for how to remove the resin I don’t have any good recommendations.  You might try sanding it off or maybe using a liquid paint remover (probably hazardous, though!).  Not sure what that would do to the slab, though.

[Sagebrush Steve]

3 hours ago, Gramps said:

Thanks so much, Steve! The plans are very clear. I'm planning to retire again (for the second time) in about three years. A clock similar to this will be near the top of my future projects. I'm thinking about a fossil leaf in place of the fish, which raises the question: What about a clock in which the "boards" consist of petrified wood slabs instead of modern walnut? (but I won't be attempting that.)

Best wishes.

At the Tucson Fossil Show in past years I’ve seen similar things made out of Mexican onyx.  Even if you don’t use petrified wood, be sure to show us what you make.

Edited March 23, 2021 by Sagebrush Steve

[Wrangellian]

6 hours ago, Sagebrush Steve said:

I got my mechanism from clockworks dot com. (Is it okay to say that?).  As for how to remove the resin I don’t have any good recommendations.  You might try sanding it off or maybe using a liquid paint remover (probably hazardous, though!).  Not sure what that would do to the slab, though.

I'll figure out something, whenever I get to it. I should be able to remove it from the slab somehow, but I wish there were a way to remove the same stuff from a few fossils I've got that old rockhounds slathered it on!  Paint remover... I haven't tried that

[Norki]

Something about having a fossil-themed clock seems very apropos to me. Maybe it's the connection between a seemingly static object from deep time, and the comparatively minute yet continuous passage of the hours measured by the clock face. The virtually eternal stillness of the fish seems to have more power when it's juxtaposed against the movement of time.

 

Anyway, well done.

Edited March 23, 2021 by Norki

[Sagebrush Steve]

5 hours ago, Norki said:

Something about having a fossil-themed clock seems very apropos to me. Maybe it's the connection between a seemingly static object from deep time, and the comparatively minute yet continuous passage of the hours measured by the clock face. The virtually eternal stillness of the fish seems to have more power when it's juxtaposed against the movement of time.

 

Anyway, well done.

Well said.  I wish I could claim I had thought of that myself but I’m not that clever!

[Susan Slater]

Wow, I have to say you must be on the brilliant end of the scale. Great work! Sue

[Plax]

How about the 12 hour numbers being fossils from successively younger periods. If you skipped the quaternary 12 would fit. Precambrian to Neogene. Precambrian actually has divisions but you would be forgiven for clockssake.