Expanding Clock has telescopic hands, and a face that can be enlarged to a much greater diameter because it's printed on a series of overlapping segments. (think of the workings of a mechanical camera iris)

With Expanding Clock, if you want a big clock, you can have a big clock, but if you prefer a smaller clock, you just squeeze in the perimeter and push the calibrated minute and hour hands down in proportion.
-- xenzag, Feb 28 2019

hoberman sphere https://youtu.be/S9SVP-dRx0w?t=8
[not_morrison_rm, Mar 05 2019]

Nice. I wonder if you could design the segments so that numbers printed on them would remain visible and upright at different diameters, or if the numbers (should you choose to want them) would need to be on telescopic stalks.

Alternatively, the outer diameter could be a metal ring, with a rubber membrane stretched over it with the numbers printed on it, then they'd scale with the diameter.
-- mitxela, Feb 28 2019


Expanding the numerals would be problematic, though not impossible, but the clock will work fine with quarter hour marks.
-- xenzag, Feb 28 2019


Hmm. Okay. I don't want one but I don't dislike it either.
-- notexactly, Feb 28 2019


I know I've seen a cheap wall clock with telescopic "bits" (think radio aerials with lumps on the ends) around the outside, but (as usual) Google has let me down.
-- neutrinos_shadow, Feb 28 2019


Could you not keep the clock the same size but just move it nearer or further away?
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 28 2019


.....i had thought of making the wall retreat or come closer, but space is limited, and the need for a fully adjustable clock is quite urgent.
-- xenzag, Feb 28 2019


Half expecting a clock that oscillated size with time which would explain the wee small hours.
-- wjt, Mar 02 2019


This could be marketed to vacationers and traveling salesmen. It fits right in with the likes of the Travel Sponge (all dehydrated and flat until you wet it), the Travel Cup (the telescoping thing again), and the Travel toothbrush (of various designs). Old people with campers will love it!
-- Size_Mick, Mar 04 2019


Expanding coins, they telescope down very small for carrying in your wallet or pocket, but you can pull or twist the edges and they become very big for paying for things with.
-- pocmloc, Mar 04 2019


I completely and thoroughly love this idea, xenzy.
-- blissmiss, Mar 04 2019


:-)
-- xenzag, Mar 04 2019


Hoberman expanding sphere would do the trick, and in 3D. Link etc
-- not_morrison_rm, Mar 05 2019


So, you're saying this clock could be either very large or quite minute?
-- AusCan531, Mar 06 2019


It would be cool if it expanded and contracted daily, hourly, or minutely like a pulse.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Mar 06 2019


auscan - The clock can either be a large clock or a small clock depending on your preference. It's the same clock, but its hands are telescopic and its calibrated outer edge and be enlarged or contracted in proportion to the chosen length of the hands. Do you want to place an order?
-- xenzag, Mar 06 2019


//Do you want to place an order?//

First I need a quiet minute before deciding whether I want a quite minute clock.
-- AusCan531, Mar 06 2019


I see this as a normal-looking clock with an hour hand and a minute hand. It would have no second hand, but instead the clock would temporarily embiggen itself slightly every second, pulsing, such that the diameter of the clock face and the length of the hands got slightly longer and then return to normal dimensions every second.
-- hippo, Mar 06 2019


That's the pulsating version. (which costs a lot more)
-- xenzag, Mar 06 2019


When you start the advertising campaign for your "massive pulsating clock!", be sure to employ some good proof-readers.
-- hippo, Mar 06 2019



random, halfbakery