Now Open!

An unique item on display and one that visitors frequently take photographs of is Meier’s “Wonderful Clock”, built in Detroit to demonstrate the skill of clockmaker Louis Meier, Sr.  It served to advertise his jewelry store located on Gratiot and East Grand Boulevard.

The magnificent clock is set in a solid mahogany-carved case, weighing 2,500 pounds and standing 15-feet high by 7-feet wide.  The main dial, propelled by a single pendulum, gives the time (sun time) of the principal nations of the world.  At the top of the dial is an illuminated moon phase, and at the bottom a perpetual calendar showing the day, month and year.  A 12-inch globe revolves on its axis once every 24 hours.

As the Westminster chimes sound the quarter hour, a child’s figure emerges.  A young man strikes the half hour, a middle aged man the third quarter and Father Time himself strikes the hour!

The Meier Clock was displayed at the Michigan State Fair in 1906 and at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1934.  It remained in the window of Louis Meier’s jewelry store until 1940 when road expansion required the demolition of the building.  The clock was then moved to L.M. Gear, a precision gear company founded by Louis Meier and located at Gratiot and Nine Mile.

In 1982, Frank Meier, grandson of the clock builder, and his family donated the clock to the Detroit Historical Museum.  Members of the Great Lakes Chapter of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors were contacted to help restore the clock, installing an electrical mechanism to re-wind the clock.

Then in 1999, a team of conservators fully restored the clock’s mechanism, figures and case. 

Today, on the advice of conservators, the Society does not allow the clock to operate for visitors.  Instead, in 2006, the Society prepared a five minute video that showcases the clock in motion, so that every visitor to the Detroit Historical Museum can view one of Detroit’s greatest treasures.