As soon as I saw this challenge, I knew exactly what I wanted. A few blocks from where I work is the Emerson Bromo Seltzer clock tower (the clock tower that appears in my recent "Pure Reflections" entry). On Saturdays, they do tours of the tower & clock room for $5. Unfortunately, I was going to be out of town on Saturday. So, I emailed the city tourism board and asked a special favor. I was told, "sure, we can do that, but we ask that you make a donation for the upcoming restoration". After agreeing that $20 was a fair donation, I met the lady from the tourism board on the last day of the challenge at noon. I didn't do the full tour. She took me up to the clockroom on the 15th floor in the old manually operated elevator. She left me alone for about 15 minutes to do my thing. This is one of the few times I've been able to submit a photo exactly as I had envisioned it.
The funny thing is, most of the equipment you see in this room isn't even for the clock. The stuff right in the center is the clock mechanism (currently broken and stuck on 8:54). All the rest is the mechanics of the elevator (which scared the bejezus out of me when she took the elevator down and all sorts of switches and relays started popping).
Congrats! I'm visiting Baltimore for a few days and walked past this clock today. Thought I'd try to get to the top and then remembered your picture and wondered if it was the same clock. Cheers!
Excitingly complicated. The lines weave together at all angles, softened by the clocks' generous curves. As a matter of fact, the choice to go black and white is almost forced by the need to enforce some order on this intricate Rube Goldbergesque scene. What intrigues me the most is the notion that the clock faces are eyes and the machinery the brain at work. A real treat.
The Inner Workings
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