Jura Clock Bench

A clockmaker in Basel needs the turn of one arbor carried to another. That is the whole first commission: two wheels, one gap, and the click when the teeth finally meet. By the twelfth, an observatory in Prague is waiting for Mercury, Venus and Mars to orbit at their true pace, and every orbit runs through wheels you counted yourself. Jura Clock Bench is a workshop on a blueprint plate. Lay down arbors, slide a wheel towards its neighbour until it snaps into mesh, then trace around its rim to cut teeth one at a time. Ten teeth driving thirty turn three times slower. Stack a second pair on the same arbor and the ratios multiply. Every mesh reverses the direction, so the hour hand only turns clockwise if you planned for it. Press start and the movement comes alive. Wheels turn, the escapement rocks, the pendulum swings at the length you dragged it to, and the mainspring slowly lets down…