Astounding Timepieces

After decades of damage, this feat of timekeeping and automaton art has been given a new lease on life.

Among the may artifacts on display is a clock made of 50,000 individual pieces of wood.

This 25-foot tall clock tower commemorates the start of one of America's foremost shopping districts and the end of the historic Palm Beach Pier.

Look up from the busy streets to discover how time is kept!

This was once the largest four-sided clock in the world (yes, even bigger than Big Ben).

An ingenious way to immortalize the inventor of universal time.

The world's most comprehensive collection of Willard timepieces is a celebration of early American clockmaking.

A 19th-century relic of timekeeping.

From atop a hill at the center of Cape Town, a cannon has been signalling the time since 1806.

For more than half a millennia, this automaton has rung an hourly bell.

The hands on this clock appear to be created by two workers sweeping debris into careful positions.

This 19th-century clock has been restored to help withstand the harsh environment of its seaside home.

At the top of the hour, figures of the London department store's two co-founders emerge and bow to each other.

This stone tower was built in the late 19th century to signal the time to ships in the water.

A pair of club-wielding guardians stand watch over London's first public clock to feature a minute hand.

Only a few pieces remain of a grand 16th-century water clock that once announced the changing hours with the sound of bells, gongs, and drums.

The world's largest sundial can cast a shadow more than 1,600 feet long.