Behind the gentle exterior of Cambridge alumnist, clock collector and inventor John Taylor lurks just the right amount of mad scientist eccentricity. Most folks don’t think to create a clock face out of a solid steel plate using controlled explosions or to meld an 18th century grasshopper escapement with sophisticated electronics, but this guy does and the results are truly phenomenal. Watch the clock carefully, it does some pretty cool tricks as it clicks and clacks its way through the hours. My favorite is when it seems to stop and then plays catch-up.

At present, the clock is at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge, so if you want to see it, you are going to have to go all the way to England.

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