Claphams Clocks

Archibald Clapham was a Whangarei engineer who spent decades collecting and building clocks, and when he sold the collection to the city in 1961 it was around four hundred pieces; it has grown to well over two thousand, billed as the largest clock collection in the southern hemisphere. The range is the interest: water clocks, a clock driven by a candle, musical and automaton clocks, cuckoo clocks, watches, and several Clapham built himself including one made from a bicycle and one that plays a tune of his own composition. The staff wind and demonstrate the notable pieces on the tour, which is what makes a room of clocks worth visiting rather than reading about. Clapham's own instruction, followed since, was that the clocks be set to different times so that they do not all strike together - which would otherwise be intolerable. The museum sits on the Town Basin beside the Hundertwasser centre.

What you actually see

• The two thousand-odd clocks - billed as the hemisphere's largest such collection.
• Clapham's own builds - including one made from a bicycle.
• The demonstrations - staff winding and running the notable pieces.
• The staggered times - deliberately unsynchronised, on Clapham's instruction.

When to go

Any season - indoors and a good wet-weather option. Time a visit to a demonstration if you can; the tour is what brings the collection alive.

Honest expectations

Ticketed. Without a demonstration it is a large number of static clocks. It is small - an hour to ninety minutes. It sits next to the Hundertwasser centre, so the two combine.

Nearby

The Hundertwasser Art Centre is adjacent; Whangarei Falls is north.