Half past Sylvester McCoy

Did you get that? That’s how you tell the time on my new Doctor Who clock. It simply means 7:30 because Sylvester McCoy was the seventh Doctor. Or to be even more complicated try this:

 

Pertwee past Tom Baker

Give up? 4:15 because Jon Pertwee was the third Doctor (5, 10, 15 past) and Tom Baker the fourth.

 

Confused? Don’t worry about it. Those of us who proudly hold our Geek banner high will pick up the slack for you. We gave my mum a crash course on the History of Who while she was here so now she can follow our conversations.

If you want to make you own clock this is what you need to do.

1) Buy an inexpensive clock.

 

2) Carefully take your clock apart. (for me this involved unscrewing the back--save your screws in a wee cup! Then carefully removing the hands of the clock)

 

3) Find head shots of all twelve Doctors  on GOOGLE image or whatever browser you use (yes, I’m going with twelve. I know the 50^th anniversary film showed John Hurt, but he was only there for the Time War and so was more like 8.5. So sue me.) Size them so they will fit correctly on your clock without overlapping and then print on thin white card.

 

4) Find the Seal of Rassilon  on the internet and size it for the centre of the clock and a really teeny tiny TARDIS  for the hour hand.   Print on thin white card.

5) Carefully take the paper face off the clock and trace it onto white poster board or other thin card. Don’t forget to cut the hole for the hands to poke through.

 

6) Cut out your Doctor heads, Seal of Rassilon and TARDIS and lay out to check everything looks hunky dory. Glue down. I used white glue thinned with water for the heads and seal but hot glue to stick the TARDIS on the hour hand. Stick it back in the clock.

 7)Put the whole thing back together. This involves putting the hands back on, putting the battery in to make sure it works, setting the time and then sandwiching it all back in reverse order and screwing it closed.

 

That’s it! I did it over a couple of days to let all the glue dry properly, but I did it all by myself so even if you feel mechanically inept, it can be done. I am the proof.

 

Now go and make one yourself.