Cars Design

Imagine an antique battery-powered electric motor from yesteryear that augments, complements, and enhances the underlying Nixie tube chronograph.

Ever since I penned my previous column on this topic (see ), my mind has been churning with ideas, some of which will make you squeal with delight, but I don’t want to make you overexcited so we'll save those for another day.

I've already been in touch with Pete Virica at PV Electronics and ordered his Spectrum Kit, which is fine-tuned to drive the uber-large Z568M, Z5680M, and R|Z568M Nixie tubes. I've also been chatting with Andy and Mandy at Engraving Studios with regard to creating my brass plates. Plus, I've been on the phone with Dalibor Farny in the Czech Republic with regard to purchasing some of his gorgeous R|Z568M tubes.

Now, in addition to the digits transitioning on the Nixie tubes themselves, having something physically moving on the clock can add to the visual feast. In the case of Paul Parry's Gemini Nixie Tube Clock, for example, we see a small brass steam engine beavering away on top (click here to see a video of this little scallywag running - the clock, not Paul).

In fact, Paul is currently in the process of creating a new clock that boasts a similar engine. The image below shows this engine sitting on Paul's worktable.