Products / Open Clock

Open Clock

A fully open, configurable clock. Choose the accuracy source, the display panel, and the power supply. Every combination is documented, and every unit is built to your specification.

A clock is the one device you cannot configure.

Accuracy is fixed at the factory. The face is fixed. The power source is fixed. You take what you are given, and when any part fails, the whole object is landfill.

Precise timekeeping already exists in GPS, atomic references, and network sync, but it stays locked inside lab equipment and datacenters. A clock on the wall never gets to use it.

One core, disciplined by any source, serving time to everything else.

Open Clock separates timekeeping from everything around it. A common core holds and disciplines time. You choose what feeds it, what displays it, and what powers it. Want sub-microsecond PTP driving a set of analog hands running on solar? That is a configuration, not a custom build.

The same core turns around and serves that time back to your network over NTP and PTP, so one accurate clock keeps every device around it honest. And it reports its own accuracy, down to the millisecond and its last sync, so you always know how right it is.

Every layer. Your choice.

Time Source

The reference the clock disciplines to.

NTP PTP GPS Atomic

Timekeeping Core

Holds time, and serves it back out.

Oscillator RTC Discipline Loop Holdover NTP / PTP Server

Display Panel

The face you read. Driven by the core.

Analog Nixie Mechanical Digital

Power

Whatever keeps it running.

Solar Battery AC

Every part. Your call.

Accuracy

  • NTP Network Sync
  • PTP (sub-microsecond)
  • GPS Satellite
  • Atomic Reference
  • Free-Running RTC

Display Panel

  • Analog Hands (stepper)
  • Nixie Tube
  • Split-Flap
  • Rolling Drum (sheet roll)
  • Digital (LED / LCD / e-paper)

Power Source

  • Solar
  • Rechargeable Battery
  • Always-On AC
  • USB-C
  • Power over Ethernet

Enclosure & Form

  • Brass
  • Aluminum
  • Walnut
  • Desk / Wall / Rack-Mount

Sound & Sensing

  • Chime / Strike
  • Ambient Auto-Dim
  • Temperature
  • Humidity

Network & Extras

  • NTP / PTP Server
  • Accuracy Readout
  • Aux Info Panel
  • World Clock

You don't program the clock. You talk to it.

The source, face, and power are chosen when you order the hardware. The SDK is for the running unit: connect to any Open Clock on your network and read the disciplined time straight from the core. Python, Rust, and C.

Ask how accurate it is at any moment, and turn its NTP and PTP server on or off. The face on the wall and the time on your network come from the same source.

Python
import openclock

# connect to a clock on your network
clock = openclock.connect("clock.local")

# read the disciplined time and its source
print(clock.now())     # 2026-07-13T03:15:08.002Z
print(clock.source)   # "gps"

# how right is it, right now?
acc = clock.accuracy()
print(acc.offset, acc.locked)  # ±2 ms, True

# let it serve time to the network
clock.serve(ntp=True, ptp=True)

One clock. Built in stages.

Phase 1

Core & Digital Face

The timekeeping core with a digital display, running on battery or AC. NTP over Wi-Fi as the first reference.

In Development

Phase 2

Time Server

The core serves NTP and PTP back to your network and reports its own accuracy. One clock keeps every device around it honest.

Planned

Phase 3

Precision Sources

GPS receiver and PTP network modules. The core learns to discipline against a satellite fix and a grandmaster clock.

Planned

Phase 4

Analog & Mechanical Faces

Stepper hands, nixie tubes, split-flap, and rolling-drum displays, all slaved to the same core and disciplined as tightly as the digital face.

Planned

Phase 5

Power Options

Solar and Power-over-Ethernet modules. The clock runs where there is light or a single cable, with no separate supply.

Planned

Phase 6

Enclosures & Form

Brass, aluminum, and walnut bodies in desk, wall, and rack-mount forms. The same clock, sized for a shelf or a server room.

Planned

Phase 7

Sound & Sensing

Chime and strike on the second, ambient auto-dimming, and temperature and humidity readouts on the aux panel.

Research

Phase 8

Atomic Holdover

An oven-controlled and rubidium reference option, disciplined by GPS, for accuracy that survives losing every network.

Research

Phase 9

Open Configurator

Publish the full connector specification so any face, source, or supply can be built by anyone. The clock becomes a standard.

Research

The core is open. The clock is yours to configure.

We are in active design. Follow the build log, contribute to the specification, or propose a face, source, power, or enclosure module.

View Repository Build Log