Floor Standing Clocks

Tara Gosselin Interior Design Expert

Tara is a San Antonio-based award-winning landscape architect, writer and educator, passionate about eco-friendly solutions and growing her own food. She knows all it takes to help you create a sustainable backyard retreat that combines blissful charm with a modern take on landscaping.

Updated 11/05/2021

These are not your grandfather's grandfather clock, although some of them resemble the classic and iconic clock style. Others are more artistic, and still others have an analog clock on the top, with a fish tank below. Something definitely different for the home. And the best part, like those iconic clocks of old, these are well-made and can be passed down from generation to generation.

Buying Guide

Nearly everyone knows the classic description of the Grandfather clock, as immortalized in the song. The opening verse goes, “My grandfather’s clock was too large for the shelf, so it stood ninety years on the floor. It was taller by half than the old man himself, though it weighed not a pennyweight more.”

Grandfather clocks are certainly a type of floor standing clock, but they are not the only ones. There are also pedestal clocks, puppet theater clocks, and the magnificent Howard Miller Hour Glass Clock.

What are the features of a classic Grandfather Clock?

The classic grandfather clock is a tall clock with a clock face at the top. It is wound with a special key and requires a certain delicacy of touch to wind it just right – neither too tight or not tight enough – so that the spring inside will slowly unwind. Its glass-fronted middle often reveals the gears and tubular chimes that can be made to strike the hour, the quarter hour, half-past and three quarters past the hour. Some models include a cuckoo bird that flies out and “cuckoos” the passing of time, while still others display a parade of fanciful people or creatures that waltz out at the top of the clock face and then disappear until time for their next appearance. A long, weighted pendulum swings back and forth, ticking off the minutes and creating a fascinating display for youngsters of all ages.

Modern versions of these venerable clocks are battery powered, obviating the need for a delicate hand with winding and making them more reliable for modern folk whose busy lives require to-the-minute timekeeping accuracy.

What kinds of Pedestal Clocks are there?

These are exactly what the title sounds like: clocks that are supported by pedestals. Within that pedestrian description, there is plenty of wiggle room for the fantastic and the beautiful. For example, there is the Chateau Standing Clock from Crestview which strongly resembles a giant pocket watch displayed at the top of an oil derrick. It is saved from the ordinary by a long pendulum. Then there is the Fallon Standing Floor Clock from Sterling which could easily be a stand-in for a baby spotlight – totally perfect for display in the lobby of a movie theater or even in your home theater.

What are the features of The Howard Miller Hour Glass Clock?

The Howard Miller Hour Glass clock is an amazing thing. It boasts a rough iron metal frame that supports a round clock face embossed with a picture of metal gears on an aged sandstone background. The hands are also rough metal and point to large Roman numerals. The center of the clock frame supports a large hour glass which can be rotated and positioned by hand to track one hour at a time. For other time tracking, the clock chimes. You can select the chime from Westminster or Ave Maria chimes that strike on the hour, the ¼ hour, the half hour and the ¾ hour, or only on the hour; or Bim Bam chimes that strike only on the hour. The whole thing rests on a distressed wood base. It is an excellent choice for fans of steampunk or Goth interior design.