A grandfather clock is the oldest modern form to test the time. A sun dial is slightly more practical with far less disturbance or noise. I'm also a big fan of bird houses, but not pigeon coops . Pigeon coops suck!
I guess it depends on your perspective. My folks had 2 grandfather clocks, a genuine Black Forest Cuckoo Clock my sister picked up in Germany during her trip for German class and an Anniversary clock. Mom would coordinate them so on the hour they all went off at once. Mom and Dad would sleep thru the bonging, ringing and cuckoo-ing, but when visiting overnight, they'd stop them all so we could get a nights sleep. Nice memory.
My Grandparents were clock collectors, they had 30 or so of those damn things gonging, cuckooing and chiming all frickin day and night. I don't know how they didn't go mad living with that noise... although they were both nearly deaf.
