Božek's chronometer
During 2025, I participated in digitization of the Prague astronomical clock (Orloj). I am grateful to CESNET for this unique work opportunity. The project is now complete and available online for free.
Božek's chronometer
My digital model
My role
My task was to create a 3D model of Božek's chronometer, which is a precision clock mechanism that regulates the movement of the entire Prague Orloj.
My responsibilities included:
- Gathering reference material. This included both my own photographs and the original 19th-century project documentation.
- Understanding the mechanism. I found out that precision clocks are intricate mechanisms, and designing a trustworthy digital model of one is nearly impossible without properly understanding it.
- Manually designing the digital model. The model was to be used in a real-time animated visualization, so I had to keep the model optimized and ready for further manipulation.
Technical skills
While working on this project, I developed and practiced the following skills:
- Autodesk Fusion: My primary modeling tool. For this project, I had to learn CAD from scratch, which was challenging at first, but I got comfortable fairly quickly.
- Photography & Image editing: While gathering the reference images, I got familiar with a professional digital camera, as well as basic image post-processing methods.
- Blender: I used it to create the beauty renders showcased on this page. These were out of scope of my work responsibilities.
Gallery
