The Physicist's Perpetual Motion Clock

This is the timepiece that expresses horologic certainty with mechanical fluidity powered by an epistemic impossibility. Expertly crafted with 16 hours of painstaking detail from rhodium- and 14k gold-plated brass, stainless steel, and anodized aluminum components, it supplants a clock’s hands with 27 balls that mark the hour, every 10th minute, and each minute. A complex network of gears are set into seeming perpetual motion by a brass drive wheel at the bottom that appears to rotate autonomously in defiance of the laws of physics. In fact, a magnetic stepper motor in the clock’s dark brushed aluminum base generates its smooth, slow rotation without contact. A 14k gold-plated brass wheel conveys each ball to the topmost level of a dual-rail track, where it is deposited onto the outer rail to represent a single minute of time. The process repeats until a 10th ball is redirected to the inner rail where it rolls down the spiraling track to the next level to mark a 10th minute—the 6th ball at this level drops to represent an increase in the hour. Includes glass cover. Limited edition of 99 clocks. Plugs into AC. 12" H x 9 3/4" W x 5 3/4" D. (12 lbs.)