Meet a Desk Clock like no other, or… how to keep a reminder of your favourite car on your desk, and actually have an excuse to look at it now and then.

 

 The idea to build what would become the DC911, came to me in a dream at about 4am – actually I was having an insomnia... Almost six months later, and after much R&D and experimentation, the vision became reality. In my eyes, the result turned out to be quite good, so good that I decided to try the waters and start accepting custom orders.

As a handmade, carefully crafted piece, much of it can be custom specified. The actual gauges to be sourced, their typefaces and scales, the design and material to be used for the frame and an optional enclosure, readily come to mind as possible options.

 

 

The Technology

The technology on the inside, however, won’t change as it is quite reliable and makes for highly accurate timekeeping. At the core, a precision time base relying on a 3.2 Mhz crystal provides an input to a PICAXE microcontroller that keeps time and controls 2 precision electromechanical servos, one for each hand. The upshot is a maximum deviation of 5 seconds / month, which is significantly lower that your typical quartz clock, or any mechanical watch / chronometer that we can think of !

 

While mains powered, an internal long-life battery backup allows the clock to endure power outages or temporary disconnects without having to be reset.

Throughout the project, prevailed a strong emphasis on high quality, hard wearing parts, put together using construction methods that would allow for an easy disassembly if the need to perform a repair or perform any customisation arises in the future.

 

 

But how to tell time ?

We kept the original scales (up to 8000rpm, 150mph), turning the telling of time into a more demanding experience… but we thought it would make for a “purer” look.
To further puzzle everyone, both hands only travel through 180º - the upper part of the gauges – so the entire range of 12 hours / 60 minutes is compressed into half. At the end of their travel they sweep back speedily to 0, making for an interesting dance every hour.

The first edition

The initial edition is a tribute to early Porsche 911’s as it features a Tachometer (as the hour hand) and a Speedometer (as the minute hand) from a 70’ 911T. The high beam blue telltale light was retained and blinks every second. The complete electronics and backup battery are contained in a module at the back, where a stainless steel push-button allows you to set time. Both gauges and electronic module are attached to a black polymetacrylate frame. An enclosure was left out on purpose, for a similar look to the dashboards of sports cars prototypes of the past.

 

The second edition...

We've just completed a custom order with a few changes from the first unit. You can take a look here.

Ordering / Info

I’ll be more than happy to discuss with any prospective buyers the range of customisations available, as well as some possible variations on the base design. You can reach me at dc911@phwear.com

 

 

(C) PetrolHead Wear 2007