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A Century of Progress %u2022 Vintage PostcardsExhibitor & Concessionaire PostcardsMeier%u2019s Wonderful ClockIn 1904, Detroit jeweler Louis Meier, Sr. completed work on his giant, one-of-a kind, wonder clock. At over 14-feet tall and weighing more than 2,500 pounds, it took him twelve years to design, fabricate, and assemble the hand-carved mahogany case, the elegant glass face, and all the massive, yet intricate, interior mechanisms. When he was done, the German immigrant proudly displayed the clock at his Gratiot Avenue jewelry store.Meier%u2019s tour de force not only told the local time; it had a dozen smaller faces, each showing the time in a different world capital. It also boasted a calendar, plus a revolving sphere depicting the current phase of the moon. Repeating chimes rang in 5-minute cycles, and tiny representative figures of various nations strode to music around a globe within the clock%u2019s base. Louis%u2019 wife, Julia, made the authentic costumes for the figures. In addition, Father Time chimed on the hour, with the quarter hours stuck by a boy, then a male adult, finally an old man. And, amazingly, it all functioned from the back-and-forth action of a single pendulum.Meier exhibited his clock at the 1906 Michigan State Fair, then took it to Chicago%u2019s Century of Progress Exhibition in 1934. After that, the clock returned to his jewelry store. Louis died in 1945, and his son Frank, also a clockmaker, passed in 1971, after which it was displayed by one of Louis%u2019 grandsons at his business in East Detroit%u2014the L. M. Gear Company%u2014inside a specially constructed addition with an 8-foot-deep well to accommodate the hanging weights. Finally, in 1982, the clock was donated to The Detroit Historical Museum by the Meier family. The towering timepiece was restored in 1988 but idled in 2006 to prevent further wear to its delicate mechanism. Since then, a video of the clock, with all its magical action, has been available for visitors. In February of 2012, a museum sightseer activated a fire alarm near the clock. By the time calm was restored and the vandal was arrested, the treasured artifact had been drenched by an overhead sprinkler system. It took a year-and-a-half of restoration work to repair all the water damage before the clock was back on display. Since then, it has been enjoyed and admired by all.