Great Scott! You Don’t Need 1.21 Gigawatts of Power to Build This Clock

The Back to the Future trilogy is responsible for introducing all kinds of pop culture imagery and references. There is, of course, Marty’s questionable moral compass, blatant lies about Chuck Berry’s musical inspiration, and insultingly favorable views of 1950s racial dynamics. Oh yeah, and there is also that DeLorean time machine. If you’ve got major nostalgia for ’80s movies that were nostalgic for the ’50s, this Back to the Future clock should do you right.

Aside from the iconic flux capacitor itself, the clock inside of Doc’s DeLorean-based time machine is probably the most recognizable prop from the entire franchise. Doc, and Robert Zemeckis, thoughtfully recognized the importance of a good clock on time travel adventures, and the clock seen in the movie had readouts for the time and date of the destination, the present, and the last time departed. In 1985, the digital LED readouts looked futuristic, but they’re readily available for replica builds now.

Jérôme Montignies built his with just an Arduino and seven-segment displays. He’s uploaded the files to Thingiverse to 3D print the enclosure, so you can get started building yours right now. You’ll need nine seven-segment displays — three each in red, green, and yellow. Additionally, you’ll need two LEDs in each of those colors. Other than that, you only need to get your hands on a label maker and some spray paint to get your very own time travel clock.