Printing a Clock Fit for a Pope
Watchmaker Carlo G. Croce recreated a 1656 silent clock mechanism originally commissioned by Pope Alexander VII using extruded plastic. The design utilizes an eccentric crank escapement to eliminate the traditional ticking sound, though it suffers from lower power efficiency compared to standard anchor escapements. This project highlights the evolution of 3D printing technology, which now allows for the complex fabrication of mechanical clockwork that was once considered a significant challenge.
- ▪Pope Alexander VII commissioned a silent timepiece from the Fratelli Campani workshop in 1656 to avoid the noise of traditional clocks.
- ▪Carlo G. Croce recreated the historical mechanism in extruded plastic, documenting the process through videos and a PDF file.
- ▪The clock uses an eccentric crank escapement that provides continuous movement but wastes more power than the traditional anchor escapement.
- ▪Despite its aesthetic appeal, the linear-rail-based spring pendulum modification does not offer the same runtime as conventional clockwork mechanisms.
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| Original publisher | Hackaday |
| Canonical URL | https://hackaday.com/2026/09/17/printing-a-clock-fit-for-a-pope/ |
| Publication time | Thu, 17 Sep 2026 08:00:11 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-09-17T08:03:43.179Z |
| Last seen | 2026-09-17T08:03:43.179Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
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| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
| Cluster | ov58mdVqDQ2e · 1 stories |
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| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
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| Model training | May the content be used to train AI models? | Not asserted |
| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
Basis: Derived from the published RSS/Atom feed. Contact: [email protected]. Reviewed: 2026-07-24.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Printing A Clock Fit For A Pope No comments by: Tyler August September 17, 2026 Title: Copy Short Link: Copy When it comes to clockwork, there is a spectrum — some people love the ticking, and some people hate it, while most fall into the broad middle of indifference. Once upon a time, Pope Alexander VII fell into the “hate it” category, and commissioned a silent timepiece from [Fratelli Campani] in 1656. Three hundred seventy years later, [Many Vices] sought out to re-create the mechanism in extruded plastic thanks to the efforts of watchmaker [Carlo G. Croce], who documented his brass recreation in this PDF file and his own videos. While the archaeology of recreating the mechanism from old photos is interesting, the mechanism itself is the real showpiece.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Hackaday.
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