In-Dash Clock Conversion

I’d like to take this opportunity to show off my latest creation:

A refurbished in-dash analog clock removed from a 1950s era Chrysler.

This clock was acquired on eBay (where else?) and was delivered in pretty decent condition. I went through the process of disassembly, including completely removing the internal mechanism. Pieces from the mechanism may later be seen in Stuff by Xtine’s artwork… After this all bracketry was cutoff, the outside smoothly finished, gritblasted and painted. You will notice the face of the clock was distressed using proprietary tooling (a simple wood screw and hammer… don’t tell anyone). I think it turned out pretty well.

The hardest part, which took me a few months of fiddling, was modifying a standard clock mechanism, available at Michael’s or JoAnn Fabrics, to fit inside the housing. This was a huge pain, and included drilling a larger hole in both the tin face of the clock and the plastic cover (which incorporates the numbers), grinding down both the hour and minute shafts of the clock mechanism, epoxy-ing the original clock hands to the new, modified clock hands from the clock kit, and finally epoxy-ing the center button onto the small nut holding the minute hand. The hardware was also spray painted with a chrome-like silver color. After it was all said and done, I’m not sure I’d want to do it over again.

Anyway, I must say it turned out quite nice. And it actually keeps time! I think I might bug Christine to take some better photos for me too; so check back for that.