How to Make a Clock in Minecraft (Guide)

In Short
  • In Minecraft, a clock is a small but essential item that tells you what time of day it is wherever you are.
  • You need four gold ingots, redstone powder, and a crafting table to make yourself a clock in Minecraft.
  • To craft a clock, place redstone powder in the center cell and surround it with gold ingots in a diamond pattern.

As you may know, time is of great importance in Minecraft. It determines a few crucial mechanics in the game such as villager working hours and hostile mob spawning on the surface. But did you know you can know what time of day it is wherever you are if you craft a clock? This item is pretty easy to make and constantly displays time via cycling animation. With that said, we’ll be showing what you need to make a clock in Minecraft and how it works. So, without any further delay, let’s start!

Resources You Need to Make a Clock

To make a clock, you will need two different items and the crafting block. Those are the following:

  • 4 Gold Ingots
  • 1 Redstone Dust
  • Crafting Table or Crafter

Gold ingots are result of smelting raw gold or Nether gold ore in a furnace or blast furnace. You can also make a gold ingot by placing 9 gold nuggets in a 3 x 3 crafting grid. Redstone dust is a common precious material that you can get by mining redstone ores underground. Alternatively, you can buy it from cleric villagers.

Crafting table is a utility block that allows you to use a 3 x 3 crafting grid to craft items. Crafter is the newest addition to the game and is very similar to the crafting table, but it only supports automated crafting using redstone power.

How to Craft a Minecraft Clock

After you collect the needed resources, follow the steps below to learn the clock’s crafting recipe.

  • First things first, place the crafting table or crafter in your world.
Crafting table and the crafter side by side
  • Then, right-click the block or use the secondary action button to open the crafting grid.
  • What you will want to do next is to place redstone dust in the center of the grid.
  • After that, place four gold ingots in a diamond shape around the redstone, with one above, one below, and two ingots left and right of the dust.
  • Once you do that, the clock will appear in the result slot on the right. Simply click on the clock and drag it to your inventory.

If you choose the crafter route, you will need to power the block with a redstone power source for it to spit out the clock. You can do so with a lever, button, redstone block or any other redstone power source.

Where Can You Find a Clock in Your World

Apart from crafting, you can obtain a clock in a couple more ways. One of them is through finding it in loot chests of the following structures:

  • Ruined Portal
  • Shipwreck (map chest)

The other option you have is to buy it from librarian Minecraft villagers. They offer this trade at the expert level and have slightly different chances of doing so, as well as the price they accept on both Bedrock and Java editions.

How to Use a Clock in Minecraft

Now, let’s talk about how you use a clock in Minecraft. This item’s primary function is to show you what time it is in your world, which then tells you how light or dark it is on the surface. Although you can easily see that for yourself while you’re at the surface, it’s not always going to be so clear.

For example, when you’re underground, there is no way to tell what time it is and whether it’s safe on the surface. So, that’s why having a clock with you is pretty useful and also recommended. You can have it in your inventory, put it in the ender chest, or even carry it in an item frame.

As long as you are in the Overworld dimension, the clock will always show the accurate time of the day. It does so by rotation of the image between a bright sunny half and a dark starry-night half.

Image Courtesy: Minecraft Wiki

There is also one other notable use of the clock. Since it’s a golden item, it affects piglins. When you throw the clock item on the ground, any nearby piglins will run toward it. They’ll then pick it up and inspect it. However, the piglins won’t give you any bartering items, as they accept gold ingots exclusively for this mechanic. Moreover, if you have a clock on you and an angry piglin chasing you, you can distract it with the golden item and earn the Minecraft advancement.

There you go everyone, now you know how to make a clock as well as all its uses. It’s a fairly useful little item that is usually overlooked by many players. But it can save your life, especially if the mine entrance is surrounded by a bunch of hostile mobs during the night. Anyway, that’s it for this guide. What’s your thought on the clock? Let us know in the comments below!

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