Station

With two opposite-facing hemispherical dials and a torsional pendulum, this clock has stuff rotating in all three principal planes.

The basic movement is essentially a wooden “Anniversary Clock”. The pendulum has a 15-second beat! The escape mechanism is a (very much modified) Graham - with lots of lock, and lots of travel.

Like an Anniversary Clock, this piece is unbelievably efficient! That 1” x 5” weight can is almost empty! This runs on 5 ounces! (This is the only clock I’ve ever built where I had to keep taking weight out to get it to run properly.)

The down side is that pendulum weighs seven pounds!

In this “straight on” view you can see the hemispherical dials, complete with their curved hands. You can “almost” see the main gearing and the escape. (photographing a dark-wood clock in a dark hall wasn’t easy.)

The going train has internally-toothed (“planetary”-type) gearing, so the great wheel-to-escape arbor distance is only 1-1/2 inches. (And all the gears turn in the same direction!)

The dark stripe down the center is the pendulum spring - made from a 1/4” tape measure. It’s hard to see, but the pendulum is made of a 6” stainless steel pipe flange and a 4” wooden cylinder filled with lead. The three wooden balls move in-and-out to adjust the period.

The (2) dial trains are nested inside the hemispherical dials, and are driven by a common clutch-mounted bevel gear in the going train. To set it, you just move one of the hands, and the other three follow.

Check out the “blued” wood hands, too. the Station Clock

I just love the famous “spherical” clock in New York’s Grand Central Terminal.

I always wanted to try my hand at an Anniversary Clock movement.

My hall didn’t have a clock.

Well… here we are!
I just love the famous “spherical” clock in New York’s Grand Central Terminal.

I always wanted to try my hand at an Anniversary Clock movement.

My hall didn’t have a clock.

Well… here we are!