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Tick Tock Tick Tock

February 24, 2009

Is the American Dream running out of time?

Downtown merchants across the country are saying “No!” by erecting over-sized, fake, olde-timey clocks. Pole-mounted timepieces, according to the Christian Science Monitor, are elevating shopping districts above their rivals in neighboring towns (at least until those towns get their own clocks). One businessman told the Monitor, “The clock was something we could point to and say, ‘We’re really a group that has some vision.’”

Big clocks convey a sense of order, of thoughtful synchrony — vs. the aimless chaos and despair of a clock-free shopping experience.

Bigger clocks do the job better, so we hope towns will look at the examples provided by industry in Kewaunee, Wisconsin, and tourism in Wilmot, Ohio. Some may even attempt to best the World’s Largest Clock, adding a window-vibrating seconds tick, with an attention-grabbing hourly chime that ruptures organs.

And when the fad finally runs its course, the business visionaries could take the bold leap of adding monolithic Easter Island Heads to their clock plazas. What conveys “vision” more than a big staring stone head from a defunct civilization?

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One Response to “Tick Tock Tick Tock”

1. tom Says:
   February 26th, 2009 at 11:11 pm

   I recall the world’s largest clock in Kewaunee, WI. It was relocated to another site from the original. I attended an auction at the 104-yr old 3-story factory of Jos. Svoboda. I purchased several items at the auctions. A large framed picture of the clock was given to the local jail museum on loan from my purchases. Several other items of interest from the Svoboda collection were donated by the company before auction. I still have items from the Svoboda factory auctions.

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