The Time, according to Turing, is ...

The 'Gemini in Tempore' clock

No one makes clocks quite like Paul Parry.

His exquisite timepieces use as their central component nixie tubes - the glass vacuum tubes with an electrical element that were once used as displays in test equipment, petrol pumps, industrial machinery, medical, retail and military equipment. But the nixie tubes are not the only recycled item that Paul uses in his clocks. Vintage oscilloscopes, tube radios, resistor boxes, radiograms, car horns, ohm meters, gearing wheels - nothing is beyond being salvaged, buffed up and made a decorative or integral part of a Bad Dog Designs creation. 

The only modern parts Paul uses are the microprocessors, microcontrollers and components that actually control the electronics of each clock.

It has been a whirlwind 18 months or so since Rapid last met Paul. He has now moved the business from his spare room to a dedicated business unit, and while he still has a day job as a logistics manager, the clocks are taking over. "I would estimate that in the next six months I will be working full time on the clocks", says Paul.

The commissions have been flooding in. He has made six versions of a Steampunk clock for the Dr Who fanclub, is close to delivering 'Wilson', a 5-foot high robot destined for the lobby of a Singapore hotel, and has even moved into nixie wristwatches. Every single bit of 'Wilson' has been made from reclaimed industrial parts, while interest in Paul's work has resulted in a number of media appearances and award nominations. He has been shortlisted for the 2016 Arts & Crafts Design Awards and earlier this year won a Theo Paphitis Small Business Sunday award.  

The 'Turing'

Since finishing the 'Gemini in Tempore' clock (above) last year, Paul has been juggling a number of projects. Among his favourite have been the 'Turing' series of timepieces. "I appreciate the work of Alan Turing, so I made a small clock out of an old resistance box, which seemed to go down well," Paul says. "A client in the US asked if I could make a bigger one that looked more like the actual Turing Bombe. So I did some research and made contact with the Welchman Bombe rebuild team, who painstakingly rebuilt the Bombe at Bletchley Park and they kindly gave me some of the original drawings."

Paul at work

"With these I then completely built the clock from scratch, knowing that the end result would be a 1:1 replica of the original. I have since taken the clock over to the project manager of the Welchman Bombe rebuild team and he was more than happy with it - which for me was a brilliant moment."

What has been the most unusual part you have reclaimed?

"How about a 1920s clocking in machine, complete with a helium neon laser tube in the middle? I've also had a radio out of a Russian Mig21 with a bullet hole in the middle. That's pretty random."

'Wilson'

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