Industrial Bicycle Sprocket Pendulum Clock — Verdigris Copper Pipe Frame View Watchlist >
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Lot # F850
System ID # 29549065
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Industrial Bicycle Sprocket Pendulum Clock — Verdigris Copper Pipe Frame, Wald 540
The Wald 540 is one of the great American chainrings — a heavy-duty steel sprocket manufactured by Wald Manufacturing Co. of Maysville, Kentucky, a company that has been supplying the bicycle trade since 1905. On a working bike, the 540 is pure utility: thick, toothed, inelegant in the best sense. Here, a studio maker pulled it off the drivetrain and put it to work as a clock face, routing four crescent-shaped voids into its center and backing them with red, yellow, teal, and navy enamel — a Calder-inflected palette against the brushed industrial steel. The chainring's serrated perimeter becomes a natural dial. The lacquered black hands and red second hand sweep across a composition that reads as both timepiece and kinetic wall sculpture.
The case is constructed from soldered copper plumbing pipe bent into a peaked, house-like silhouette — a form that echoes cuckoo-clock vernacular while landing firmly in the industrial-salvage tradition. Age and oxidation have worked the copper into a mottled verdigris green over warm bare metal, a surface that suits the found-object spirit of the piece. A polished brass pendulum bob swings in the open lower bay, its convex face catching light against the dark pipe. The reverse reveals a Takane quartz pendulum movement (No Jewels, Made in U.S.A.) mounted to a turned hardwood disc and secured to the frame with copper pipe clamps — clean, purposeful construction throughout. This sits comfortably in the collector market for American studio craft objects, industrial-aesthetic décor, and serious bicycle memorabilia, where sprocket clocks occupy their own well-established niche.
CONDITION
Good and fully operational; tested and working. Verdigris patina and minor scuffing to the copper pipe frame are consistent with age and the intended aesthetic. No remarkable damage to any component.
DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS
- Overall: 15" H × 9¼" W × 4¼" D
- Sprocket: Wald 540 steel chainring, stamped "WALD 540"
- Dial face: Four crescent cutouts filled with red, yellow, teal, and navy enamel
- Frame: Soldered copper pipe, verdigris-patinated finish
- Pendulum bob: Polished brass, convex disc form
- Movement: Takane quartz pendulum, No Jewels, Made in U.S.A.
- Power: Battery operated (AA)
- Backing disc: Turned hardwood
