The Domino Clock

Sometime around 1996, when I was working for CompuServe, I saw a lovely demonstration of an electromechanical watch that used a sort of domino face to tell the time. I liked it so much that when I was looking for a toy project for my first Java Applet, I decided to implement the algorithm of the watch.

25 years later, I found the source code buried somewhere in an old CD. I decided to try an re-implement the logic in Javascript, and to experiment with a hand-written Web Component. This is the result.

It might seem a bit silly to have implemented the seconds face when the minutes face has a resolution of only five minutes, but it allows you to watch the clock in operation and learn what each symbol means: an empty face is 0 (12) and all four pips visible is 11 (or 55 minutes/seconds).

The source code, both for this project and for the Java original, are available at my personal Git repository at ElfSternberg.com.