Atlantic Tide Clocks
Hand Crafted Tide Clocks
Made in St. Augustine!
We're usually at the AMP Market every 2nd Saturday.
Call or text us to check if we're there!
Here are Tide Clocks we currently have in stock!
Here are Out of Stock Tide Clocks
How to Buy our Tide Clocks
We’re keeping this website low-tech, we don’t have on-line ordering.
Tide Clocks are $100, plus tax.
Custom Text is an additional $25, plus tax.
Shipping is $15 for each Tide Clock and we only ship to the continental US.
Send me (Jim McDonell) an email or a text with the # of the tide clock you would like to purchase, we’ll confirm it’s still available and put it away for you so you can purchase it.
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My email is McDonell960@gmail.com and my cell is 630-936-3144
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We have a card reader so you can pay when you pick it up.
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We're usually at the AMP farmers market every other week.
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Or we can meet you somewhere.
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If you want us to ship, we can for an extra $15.
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We’ll email you an invoice where you can use any credit card to pay for the Tide Clock.
Custom Tide Clocks
Would you like to have your own text on your Tide Clock?
If your answer is yes, then we can make that happen!
Have a look at the "current" and "out of stock" tide clocks, find the design you like the best and make a note of the number.
Let us know what text you want on the tide clock then follow the directions on the How to Buy Tab.
Choose a Favorite "Saying" About Tides
Or Use Your Own Saying
Max 15 to 16 characters per row with spaces.
Capitals take more space.
Fishing
Time
Beach
Time
Tide
Time
Life is Better
On the Coast
Life is Better
At the beach
Running On
Beach Time
High Tides
Good Vibes
The Beach Is
Calling Me
Take Me
To the Beach
Life is a Tide
Float on it
Beach More
Worry Less
Salt Water
Heals Everything
The Beach
Restores the Soul
At the Beach
Life is Different
A Rising Tide
Lifts all Boats
Waves are
Voices of Tides
Time & Tide
Wait for no Man
The Beach
Restores
I’m the Tide
I can’t stay
Love Deep
Like the Sea
Keep Calm
Go To the Beach
Or Choose a Favorite Beach Town
Or Use Your Beach Town
Max 15 to 16 characters per row with spaces.
Capitals take more space.
St. Augustine
Tides
Crescent Beach
Tides
Butler Beach
Tides
Flagler Beach
Tides
Beverly Beach
Tides
Vilano Beach
Tides
Ponte Vedra Beach
Tides
Ponte Vedra
Tides
Guana Beach
Tides
North Beach
Tides
Mickler’s Landing
Tides
Jax Beach
Tides
Neptune Beach
Tides
Atlantic Beach
Tides
Mayport
Tides
Information on our Tide Clocks
Please spend a few minutes reviewing the information on our Tide Clocks. Here we provide you with an explanation on how to set your Tide Clock, how it works and more. Links are also included so you can download the PDF files.
Here is all the information you need for your Tide Clock. To download a PDF of this information
click HERE
Tide Clock Information
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The quartz movement of the Tide Clock is specifically designed to represent the average high and low tide cycle in a lunar day of 12 hours and 25 minutes.
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The Tide Clock HAND shows how many hours remain until the next High or Low tide.
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The Tide Clock mechanism has an open battery and is therefore not intended for the humidity of outdoor use. However, we do have some customers who are using their Tide Clocks in their lanai. I've told them that in the event your mechanism becomes corroded I will certainly supply you with a replacement.
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"AA" battery included.
To Set Your Tide Clock
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You will find the wheel for setting the tide indicator hand at the back of the movement.
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Do not adjust the tide indicator hand by turning the hand, only adjust it with the wheel on the tide mechanism.
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The tide indicator hand should be set to high tide when the next high tide occurs in the location you are interested in (on the East Coast).
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To get the best long-term accuracy set the tide hand at high tide during a full moon.
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After setting the Tide Clock on the full moon, check it the following year on a full moon and adjust if needed.
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Tide information for your location of interest can be found at https://www.tideschart.com.
How a Tide Clock Works
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Tides are long and wide masses of water that move through the oceans in response to the forces exerted by the moon and sun.
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Tides begin in larger bodies of water and move toward the coast where they create the regular rise and fall of the sea surface at the coastline.
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The incoming tide along the coast is called a flood current and the outgoing tide is called an ebb current or "Ebb Tide".
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The Moon is the main factor in pulling the tides with its gravitational pull and the lunar day (or tidal day) is 24 hours and 50 minutes and 30 seconds.
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The tide clock mechanism is based on the lunar day. In that time there are 2 high tides and 2 low tides. The average time between the high tides is 12 hours and 25 minutes.
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The key word is “average”. From Wikipedia - The exact length varies over time because the speed of the Earth–Moon system around the Sun varies slightly during a year due to the eccentricity of its elliptical orbit, variances in orbital velocity, and a number of other variations.
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For this reason, the Tide Clock shows average values not the precise exact value you would get on a website. But it’s suitably close!!
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The HAND shows how many hours until the next high or low tide because the Tide mechanism runs on the lunar day.
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More information on tides is provided with the accompanying document “Tides Explained”.
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Our Tide Clocks only work for locations on the Atlantic seaboard.
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Our Tide Clocks will not work for locations on the Pacific Coast or the Gulf of Mexico.
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Our Tide Clocks do not “tell time”.
Tides Explained – From NOAA National Ocean Service. To download a PDF of this information
click HERE
Tides Explained – From NOAA National Ocean Service
Tides and Water Levels
Types and Causes of Tidal Cycles – Diurnal, Semidiurnal, Mixed Semidiurnal and Continental Interference
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If the Earth were a perfect sphere without large continents, all areas on the planet would experience two equally proportioned high and low tides every lunar day. However, the large continents on the planet block the westward passage of the tidal bulges as the Earth rotates. Unable to move freely around the globe, these tides establish complex patterns within each ocean basin that often differ greatly from tidal patterns of adjacent ocean basins or other regions of the same ocean basin (Sumich, J.L., 1996).
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Three basic tidal patterns occur along the Earth’s major shorelines. In general, most areas have two high tides and two low tides each day. When the two highs and the two lows are about the same height, the pattern is called a semi-daily or semidiurnal tide. If the high and low tides differ in height, the pattern is called a mixed semidiurnal tide.
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Some areas, such as the Gulf of Mexico, have only one high and one low tide each day. This is called a diurnal tide. The U.S. West Coast tends to have mixed semidiurnal tides, whereas a semidiurnal pattern is more typical of the East Coast (Sumich, J.L., 1996; Thurman, H.V., 1994; Ross, D.A., 1995).
Semidiurnal tide cycle. An area has a semidiurnal tidal cycle if it experiences two high and two low tides of approximately equal size every lunar day. Many areas on the eastern coast of North America experience these tidal cycles.
Diurnal tide cycle. An area has a diurnal tidal cycle if it experiences one high and one low tide every lunar day.
Many areas in the Gulf of Mexico experience these types of tides.
Mixed Semidiurnal tide cycle. An area has a mixed semidiurnal tidal cycle if it experiences two high and two low tides of different size every lunar day. Many areas on the western coast of North America experience these tidal cycles.
About Jim & Monique
We retired to St. Augustine in 2020.
And we thought wouldn’t it be great to have Tide Clock with an artistic flair that looked great in our home.
So we decided to make our own Tide Clock and see where it would take us.
We both like to create and working together on each step of the process was fun.
After some trial and error we had our first Tide Clock and decided to keep going!
Monique and I create each background design and every one is unique and inspired by the Atlantic Ocean in our backyard and the ever-changing sky.
I do the laser engraving and I think it's the perfect balance of software and woodworking.
Everyone who lives near the Atlantic Ocean needs a Tide Clock😊
We hope you like our one-of-a-kind Tide Clock creations!
FAQ's
What is a Lunar Day?
The Lunar Day is also known as a Tidal Day and is the time it takes for a specific location on the Earth to rotate from an exact point under the moon to the same point under the moon. Unlike a solar day, however, a lunar day is 24 hours and 50 minutes.
Because the Earth rotates through two tidal “bulges” every lunar day, coastal areas experience two high and two low tides every 24 hours and 50 minutes and high tides occur 12 hours and 25 minutes apart.
Why is the time interval between tides at my beach not 12hr 25min?
I put together a High/Low Tide table for Saint Augustine Beach for Oct/2024 from the full moon on Sept/29 to the next full moon on Oct/28.
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It is interesting that the High Tide varies from the expected 12hr 25min by -10min to +13min.
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And it is more interesting that the Low Tide varies from the expected 12hr 25min by -11min to +45min.
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What is most interesting though is that the High Tide on the Full Moon syncs back up to 12hr 25min, every Full Moon.
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So the Tide Clock mechanism will “sync up” with the tides every Full Moon.
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You can see the full chart at the end of this explanation.
So once again, why is the time interval between tides at my beach not 12hr 25min which just about every web site on tides says it should be.
This is the part that is difficult to put into understandable terms (for me too) but here is what I have discovered, here goes.
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The tides at any one place result from multiple components. We know that both the Moon and the Sun contribute to tides, but there are over 30 components that contribute to the timing (and height) of tides.
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So what does this all mean?
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When the multiple components are put together on a given day and location, the result is a complex tide with peaks that don't exactly match the 12hr 25min model.
Following are the top six components that contribute to the timing (and height) of tides.
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The moon is the dominant factor with a period of 12hr 25min. This causes two peaks and two troughs each day.
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The sun has a factor half as much as the moon, so it has a large impact with a period of 12hr. This causes two peaks and two troughs each day.
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The elliptical orbit of the Moon around the Earth is a factor and has a period of 12hr 25 min. This is a significant contributor to the height of the tide which varies with the lunar cycle. It is largest when the Moon is at perigee (closest to Earth) and apogee (farthest from Earth), and smallest when the Moon is at quadrature (90 degrees from Earth).
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The tilt of the Moon’s orbit relative to the Earth’s equator is a factor and has a period of 23hr 56min, which means it has one peak and one trough every day. It is largest when the Moon is directly north or south of the equator and smallest when the Moon is on the equator.
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The rotation of the Earth relative to the Moon is a factor and has a period of 25 hours and 50 minutes, which means it has one peak and one trough every day. It is largest when the Moon is overhead or underfoot at a location, and smallest when the Moon is on the horizon.
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The solar annual factor related to the changing positions of the Earth and Sun on an annual basis has a period of 365.25 days, which means it has one peak and one trough every year. It is largest when the Earth is closest to Sun and farthest from Sun, and smallest when the Earth is at equinox (equal day and night).
