Hitchclock

Hitchclock is an outdoor mechanical clock, that’s kept wound up by wind driven blades, that naturally look like large winged birds, whose movements are geared down to deliver the necessary energy to the mainspring.

It gets its Hitchcock derived name from the actual escape mechanism, which is controlled by regular visitations of real birds, who peck at a simple device, having quickly learned that establishing a regular pattern of pecking releases pellets of food. As the pecking is so intermittent and random, multiple compensating timing gears are required to ensure that some semblance of actual time is maintained. At night, hungry bats and owls take over the visitations to the clock.

Hitchclock isn’t so great at keeping good time, due to its dependency on flocks of fickle birds and prevailing winds, and is more intended to be a monument to the great director, especially in his creation of one of my favourite films "The Birds".