Great Wilmette Clock

The Wil­mette Arts Guild is bring­ing this mag­nif­i­cent clock to Wil­mette from Zacat­lan, Mex­i­co as a gift to the Wil­mette Jr High School for the new sci­ence wing. Guild Pres­i­dent, Julie Ressler says, ” The Board and the mem­ber­ship are so thrilled to have the hon­or to facil­i­tate the com­mis­sion of this fine three dimen­sion­al work of art rem­i­nis­cent of Leonar­do Da Vin­ci’s machines or the splen­did Euro­pean clocks we all enjoy abroad. The pres­ence of all those gears, bells and huge mov­ing hands will stim­u­late inter­est and dis­cus­sion about the junc­ture of art and sci­ence, mechan­ics and time! The clock is from a small town in Mex­i­co, so even the Span­ish teach­ers and stu­dents will be involved.”
A pen­du­lum swings, gears turn, and bells ring- all in full view as the Wil­mette Clock dis­plays its mechan­i­cal inge­nu­ity for vis­i­tors. The nine-foot-tall clock, has a face more than three feet in diam­e­ter. All the parts are hand­made.
The fam­i­ly com­pa­ny Relo­jes Olvera, III Gen­eración (Olvera Clocks, 3rd Gen­er­a­tion), whose mechan­i­cal clocks are found in town halls, church­es and parks through­out Mex­i­co and Cen­tral Amer­i­ca, cre­at­ed the brass and steel design. It’s the third Olvera clock of its type in the Unit­ed States that is made to dis­play the inner work­ings. The oth­er clocks are at the Explorato­ri­um in San Fran­cis­co and the World of Won­ders in Lodi, Cal­i­for­nia and now Wil­mette!
This mechan­i­cal clock rep­re­sents an appre­ci­a­tion of tra­di­tion­al crafts­man­ship that still thrives in rur­al Mex­i­co. The small towns that look to install a new clock in their church or town hall tow­er over­whelm­ing­ly pre­fer the mechan­i­cal style, “Clients tell me they want a machine that their grand­son can see,” says Clemente Olvera, whose grand­fa­ther began the clock com­pa­ny ear­ly in the twen­ti­eth cen­tu­ry.
The Wil­mette Arts Guild is able to present this won­der­ful gift through the gen­eros­i­ty of retired stock­bro­ker, trav­el writer and long­time Mex­i­co afi­ciona­do, Dick Davis.
“In Mex­i­co I saw clocks in town halls, church tow­ers, and land­scaped flo­ral dis­plays, but no one had thought of the clock mech­a­nism itself was a work of art, which it most cer­tain­ly is!” Davis notes, “Mon­u­men­tal size is so inspir­ing to young minds of all ages!” Be sure to come see the Great Wil­mette Clock on dis­play until the Fall at the Wil­mette Recre­ation Cen­ter before it moves to the Jr High School.