Black and grey realism tattoo of a Roman numeral clock, a pyramid and flying birds with scrollwork on a calf.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Clock, birds and pyramid on a calf

Realism · Calf · Black and grey · Photo

A large clock face with Roman numerals sits at the centre, with a pyramid-like triangle behind it and a flock of birds above it against a shaded dark sky. Ornate scrollwork runs beneath the clock, and the shading moves from solid black to soft grey to create depth. The tattoo covers the lower leg of a person wearing dark trousers and trainers.

Realism Calf Clock Roman numeral Bird Pyramid Scrollwork Sky

Find an artist for this

Take it to an artist as a reference. A good artist will make it yours rather than copy someone else's tattoo.

A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom,

Keep reading

The big clock in the shop has stopped again, the one with the Roman numerals Father bought off a bankrupt dairy in Cheapside. I have tried the weights, the pendulum and a drop of sewing oil, and it still stands at twenty past four as if it has an opinion about the matter. The birds have taken to the sill every morning since the frost, rooks mostly, and a few starlings with their feathers gone grey at the edges. They sit in a row and watch the dial as though they are waiting for the hands to move.

Mr Okafor from the chandlery brought his own watch in on Tuesday to be cleaned and said the birds follow the church tower across the parish, that they know when the tide turns before the sailors do. He laughed when he said it, but he did not take his eyes off the window. I told him the skylight throws a triangle of light across the face each afternoon, pale as a sail, and he said that was the shape of a roof a man might run home to.

Last night I opened the case and found a folded note tucked behind the escapement, in Father's hand: "Wind it on the day the ship turns for home, and not a day before." I looked at the calendar and saw that your ship is due in the Pool on Thursday. So I wound it this morning, and the second hand jumped and went round as if it had been waiting all winter too. Half the rooks lifted off the sill at once.

Come home by Thursday, Tom. The clock is running now, and I would rather not be the one who has to set it right on my own.

Your loving sister, Nell