“They don’t make ’em like they used to,” the mantra of surly, sentimental grandpas everywhere. However, the same cannot be said of the work from Michigan clockmaker Rick Hale because as far as we can tell, they never really made ‘em like this to begin with.
Working in his Kalamazoo shop, the self-taught horology honors student builds huge timepieces by hand using wood from local trees along with brass and stone. Each of the clocks — which Hale creates using knowledge gleaned from reading books on mechanical engineering, art, clockmaking and physics — is stripped of cases and dials and takes about 400 hours to build.
In all honesty, Hale’s use of historical techniques (read: grasshopper escapements, daisy wheel motion work and worm gears) goes beyond descrition but hopefully these pictures and the man himself can do the job.
“My timepieces have a different aim,” Hale told Hodinkee. “Rather than simply tell the current time (which they do), they also do something a little less tangible and a lot more important: They center you in the present moment.”
At this moment, Hale has three pieces available for preorder ranging from $4,850 to $5,240.
Make some time to give ‘em a look.
This article was featured in the InsideHook newsletter. Sign up now.
