India, Jan. 30 -- There I was, helping my parents move into their new home, sleeves rolled up and brain switched into design mode. I may no longer be practising in the field of interior design, but years of research, teaching, and building homes from the inside have a way of staying with you. As we unpacked boxes and tested light at different hours of the day, I found myself reaching for every trick I know to shape a space that feels settled from day one. Wall clocks became my obsession during this process.

I have long loved how they pull a room together without asking for attention. They sit at the meeting point of function and feeling, marking time while adding rhythm to a wall. A few of the clocks on this list already live in my paren...