DIY: Vintage Record Clock

Well hello there, I took a little blogcation last weekend and now I am back! I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine’s day, whether you celebrated it with someone special or just your friends, and I hope everyone has a wonderful….. President’s Day? Hey, you might be celebrating it today, who knows?

A couple weeks ago I took a walk down the Asbury Boardwalk with my parents and puppy, Buddy. We popped in the Convention Center in the midst of a Cheerleading competition, and sweet lord was that scary, ha! But any who, for anyone who is familiar with Asbury Park (in New Jersey) and the Convention Center, they have done some really great things with it. Asbury in general is coming back to life in a big way and I couldn’t be more excited about it. They have all these cute little shops bordering the inside of the Center and little cafes, it’s pretty neat. My mom and I saw this little store that was selling these awesome clocks made out of vintage records. They were so cool and we thought it you could find the perfect record they would make amazing presents for someone… until we saw the price tags. They were literally over $50. Instantly we thought… “I’m not paying for that, we can make these ourselves!” ……and we did. So we stopped at Good Will on the way home and spent a half hour digging through boxes of old records and came out with some fantastic finds, and the best part? They were literally under a dollar each. How can you beat that? So we grabbed a few then stopped at AC Moore and picked up the guts to make the clocks and we set off home to assemble.

Here’s what you’ll need: 

A sweet vintage record – when you’re picking out the records think of who you’re making it for. I found a Springsteen album, Darnkess on the Edge of Town and I instantly grabbed it for my mom because she’s a big Bruce lover (who isn’t??). Basically… don’t pick out a Hall & Oates album for someone who loves Alice Cooper.

I picked out this Elton John record because I was making the clock for my hubs and he likes Elton, plus the record itself had a picture on it which is pretty hard to find.

Clock “guts” – You can find these at any craft store, we picked ours up at AC Moore. You can get them with or without the numbers, they generally run from about $5-$8. I picked up one with numbers that was $7.

One Double A battery.

And that’s really all you need! So if you’re doing the math here at home, we’re at about $8, max. $50 for something I can make for $8? Yeahhhh. Let’s continue.

Making the clock is super simple. All you do is follow the instructions on the package of the clock parts.

Step 1: Pop the backing of the clock through the hole in the record so just the tip is sticking out.

Step 2: Carefully place the clock hands on the tip, hour hand, then minute, and finallythe second hand. On the clock kit I used, the second hand was also the cap, so it kept the other hands on.

Step 3: Place the numbers on the record if you choose to. I used only the 4 key numbers because I didn’t want to take away from the record itself. The numbers are stick on so if you apply them in the wrong spots or realize you don’t like the way it looks, you can take them off easily and it won’t damage the record or ruin your clock.

Step 4: Pop a battery in the back and you’re done!

The hands may take some tweaking and flexing to keep them straight and make sure they don’t bump into each other.

And viola! There you have it. I made this for Matt as a little something extra for Valentine’s day. It’s super simple, easy to make, and cost almost nada, but the fact that you make it yourself just adds that little touch of sincerity that is what gift giving is really about. So next time you need a birthday present for a music lover in your life, why not make them a nifty little clock?