Modern Water Clock Designs

Ancient water clock or clepsydra ('to steal water' in Greek) was any timekeeper operated by means of a regulated flow of liquid into or out from a vessel where the amount is then measured. Today, the use of water flow to power a clock is a rarely practiced art, where its purpose has become more for show and novelty than for functional accuracy. Here's some examples.

The ChronArte Canna is a spectacular wall clock with real liquid display. The twelve crystal clear tubes fill like a cascade with colored water. Minute by minute, hour by hour. When all are filled, the system empties and the cycle begins anew. Continuously flowing water as a symbol for time and its passing.

Bernard Gitton's Liquid-Time Sculpture displays time using a complex system of pipes and siphons. The sculpture can be constructed from 7 ft. to as much as 35 ft. high and is already appearing in various places around the world including a gigantic model in the Indianapolis Children’s Museum.

                                                      

Kouichi Okamoto's Water Clock tells time with water and magnets. Inside the ceramic base are 2 rotating magnets which attract 2 balls - the red one showing the hours, the white one the minutes.

Modern water clock (clepsydre) museum Noria.