Printing A Clock Fit For A Pope

A maker recreated a silent 17th-century clock mechanism originally commissioned by Pope Alexander VII, who reportedly hated the ticking sound of traditional clocks. The 1656 design by the Campani brothers used an eccentric crank escapement for continuous, silent movement instead of the tick-tock anchor escapement, and was documented decades ago by watchmaker Carlo G. Croce in brass. The 3D-printed recreation tests both escapement types, showing that while the crank escapement is quieter, it wastes more power and runs for a much shorter time than traditional clockwork, which explains why the noisier anchor escapement remained dominant for centuries.

Source: https://hackaday.com/2026/09/17/printing-a-clock-fit-for-a-pope. 8 Sync News only summarizes and links out; content copyright belongs to the authors and original sources.