The Night Circus- Part One (Primordium): Chapter Twelve (Horology) - The Best Clock in the Whole Damn Universe (to be read with an echo)

This chapter begins with another character who actually deserves the short chapter they've been given: Herr Frederick Thiessen.

He's quite possibly the best clockmaker in the world, and Mr. Barris has finally found him, creepily admitting that he "has been attempting to track him down for some time".

Flattering. 

Anyway, Mr. Barris wants to know if Herr Thiessen will make the best clock in the whole damn universe for the circus, referring to it as "der Meisterwerk." 
The only guidelines he is given are size constraints, color scheme (black and white, of course), and the word "dreamlike", and the rest is up to him. 

He agrees, and in a few days receives an envelope filled with exactly one fuck-ton of money, a date to finish the clock by, and a delivery address.

Of course, because this clock will be the best clock in the whole damn universe, he spends those months working solely on it.

The clock, which is indeed the best clock in the whole damn universe, is hard to describe. It definitely fits the theme of "dreamlike", and when it is wound, as time (hah) passes, its appearance begins to change. 
The face's color goes from white to grey, then clouds float across it, and all the while, pieces of the clock move outward and back in, like "falling apart, slowly and gracefully."
The face changes to black, and stars replace the numbers, and the moving pieces of the body become moving flowers and planets and books with real paper and dragons and princesses and teapots and cats and dogs and a whole game of chess and a juggler for a cuckoo and seriously, what the hell?

I have no idea how to make a clock. But how in the name of Bob Saget do you make something like that in a lifetime, let alone in the late 1800s and in the matter of a few months? Herr Thiessen is not magical, and yet this may very well be the most magical thing in the circus. Also, who wins the tiny chess game?

This is the closest thing I could find to an accurate representation of the clock, and it, while beautiful, still falls miserably short.

After the clock is shipped, Mr. Barris sends a letter of gratitude, saying "It is perfection". More money is sent, and by this point Herr Thiessen could easily retire. He doesn't.

This chapter ends with Thiessen thinking of the clock every now and then, occasionally referring to it mentally as the Wunschtraum (dream) clock, and (at least for now) he is not contacted by Barris again.

Chapter Thirteen should be out by next Tuesday.