No.3

ericfreitas.com

The third addition to my wall of timepieces first showed up in the form of a small sketch no bigger than a stamp. It was a drawing of a seven and five that mirrored each other at the top, and then curled downward, sweeping below and around the six. This design barely budged from that initial spark, and in the end, it held up very nicely. The process of drawing very small and adhering to the first sketch would become my process, as I feel it's the best way to keep the subconscious artistry from being robbed by logic. Throughout this clock you'll find subtle repetitions of the 7-5 shape. The back of the hands, the pendulums, but most strikingly, the chain. With the exception of a few 'twins', each link is a unique variation of the clocks shape.

The one element that eluded me for some time was the pendulum. I drew quite a few versions of this clock with different pendulum styles in order to find something that didn't upset the design. Eventually I would come to an alluringly complicated mechanism that would become a highlight for this piece. Rather than one, I used two pendulums, and synced them up with two gears just below the escape wheel. The gears, the escapement, and the 2 contra-oscillating pendulums are all clicking away right on the face of the clock. These shapes, swinging in opposite directions, creates a heartbeat-like expanding and contracting effect!

One final feature which must be mentioned is the treatment of the clocks face. Worked into the surface are drawings of the chain links, the escape mechanism, and the small original drawing of the clock itself!