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Timekeeping · Tools · 1.21

How to Make a Clock

Underground you lose all sense of time. A clock reads the sky for you, so you always know whether it is safe to surface and exactly when you can sleep.

The recipe

Four gold ingots in a plus, one redstone dust dead centre.

→

Same plus as a compass, but gold instead of iron. Grab the grid on Astroworld crafting.

Reading the sky

The dial walks through four stages every Minecraft day.

Day06:00

The sun climbs. Most hostile mobs burn in sunlight and stop spawning out in the open.

Dusk18:00

The sun dips below the horizon. The sleep window opens and monsters start to appear.

Night00:00

Midnight. Sleep through it to skip to dawn, or gear up and fight.

Dawn06:00

First light returns. Mobs caught in the open begin to burn again.

When you can sleep

You can use a bed once the sun is fully down, from about 18:00 to 06:00in-game, or during a thunderstorm at any hour. Sleeping skips the clock straight to dawn and resets your spawn point. Try too early and you get the “you can only sleep at night” message, which is exactly what the clock helps you avoid.

Where it stops working

Nether & End

No day-night cycle exists in those dimensions, so the clock has no sky to read and spins uselessly. It only works in the Overworld.

Wall clock

Drop a clock into an item frame and it becomes a readable wall clock for a base or a build.

Quick answers

12:00
What does a clock actually show?
The current in-game time, drawn as the sun and moon on a 24-hour dial. Held or framed, it is your at-a-glance day-night readout.
18:00
When can I sleep?
From dusk until just before dawn, roughly 18:00 to 06:00 in-game, or any time during a thunderstorm. The clock tells you the moment that window opens.
00:00
Why is my clock spinning randomly?
You are in the Nether or the End. Neither has a day-night cycle, so the clock has no sky to read and just spins.
09:30
Does it work in an item frame?
Yes. Mount a clock in an item frame for a wall clock that anyone standing nearby can read.
15:00
Compass or clock?
A compass tells you which way, a clock tells you when. Most explorers end up carrying both.
21:00
Is there a cheaper recipe?
No. The clock is specifically four gold ingots and one redstone. There is no wood or iron substitute.

Carry a compass alongside it for direction, look up the clock and gold ingot in the items database, or open the crafting recipes for the exact grid.