Few years back I made a marble run toy that lifted marbles to the top of the run. When they passed certain points they tripped gates to send the next marble on a different path. One path would capture marbles until their weight tipped the scale then dumped the marbles down a bed of nails with bells amidst the bed. They'd collect at the bottom and go back up the corkscrew lift to the top and restart their journey. But I ran into a similar problem, marbles were not consistent in size and shape. It has sat in my lab for these some years untouched. I'm now considering a series of magnets and solenoids to magnetically attract a steel bearing (bearings can be far more consistent in size and shape) with balls working their way to the top. Then start them on a new run. Now I have another project to sit in the back of my mind for yet another year or so. My grandchildren may well be graduating college by the time I get around to it. Guess I lack dedication. Meanwhile my woodshop thing is beginning to get some traction. Made a video of my home made freight elevator. Look for it on "Wanna see something cool 2".

 

Check out Tokyoflash, they have a range of unusual watches, many of their display ideas would translate to wall clocks.

 

Disregard the times quoted in the on-screen text. It should say 10:13 and 10:14. The owner said he was drinking when he wrote the text .

 

Took a bit of watching to figure out how it was telling time. It's the HOUR in the slot and the minutes on the Arc. Cool.