The Coquina Clock Tower in Daytona Beach's Oceanfront Park was added to the United States National Register of Historic Places on March 5, 1999. It has stood as a symbolic landmark for the "World's Most Famous Beach" since 1938. Its four, one-of-a-kind, clock dials [which are actually transparent] feature the twelve letters of the city (D-A-Y-T-O-N-A-B-E-A-C-H) instead of the traditional one through twelve numerals. The original clockworks were a mid-1930s vintage Seth Thomas timepiece that was operated through a system of weights and pulleys, but it was converted to electricity some time before 1989. The Clock Tower's design is so unique and eye-catching that it magnetically attracts people of all ages who stop and look at it with admiration. The architect, Allen J. McDonough, used beautiful native Florida coquina rock¹, which was quarried locally, to build this impressive Clock Tower structure.

Construction on the Clock Tower started in 1936 as part of a Work Progress Administration (WPA)² project to develop Boardwalk Park, and build the band shell and Clock Tower. The entire project cost $268,000 (in 1936 monetary value.) The Boardwalk Park and its band shell and Clock Tower were officially dedicated on July 4, 1938, and the celebration had over 5,000 people in attendance.

In 1989, the Clock Tower was renamed by the city's Historic Preservation Advisory Board in honor of the famed automotive speedster, Sir Malcolm Campbell³, who set several land speed records in the1920s and 1930s in Daytona Beach.

The 1989 Clockworks Restoration by National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC) member, Jack Smith.

In the 1980s the clocks fell on hard times, maintenance wise, and stopped working. The clockworks were encrusted with thick layers of bird droppings that obviously clogged up the mechanisms. Many people were doubting that the clocks would ever work again. Then, long time NAWCC member and antique clockworks expert, the late Jack Smith, came to the rescue. Jack donated his time and expertise and climbed up in the Clock Tower with an assistant, city employee John Balaz, and managed to clean and fix the clockworks. Jack also located the parts and materials at a cost of less than $100.00. A Proclamation by the City Commission of the City of Daytona Beach on July 4, 1989 praised Jack's work by saying, "In recognition of the observance of the rededication of the Boardwalk Clock Tower, the Daytona Beach City Commission, acting in behalf of all the residents of the City of Daytona Beach, adopts this method of expressing to Mr. Jack Smith the everlasting thanks of his time and materials...to refurbish the clock tower."

The Clock Tower's 52nd Anniversary rededication ceremony in 1989 was a big success thanks to Jack Smith's work that resulted in getting the clocks back into running order. During the ceremony Daytona Beach Mayor, Larry Kelly, said to Jack, "You helped us do it. Thanks a billion."

The 2007/2008 Clockworks Replacement Project by NAWCC - Chapter 154 - Daytona Beach members, Jim Zeisler and Tom Bransford

The electric clockworks motor was removed by Tom Bransford and Jim Zeisler in January 2008. It was old and suffering from corrosion due to bird droppings and exposure to salt air. The main problem was the universal joints and dowel rods were worn to a point that when the wind blew they tended to shift positions which prevented the hands from properly moving. Jim Zeisler was occasionally climbing up into the Clock Tower to set the hands to the proper time, but these efforts were only a temporary solution as it did not take long for the four clocks to go out of synchronization and display different times. The original hour and minute hands had to be sawed off due to corrosion and wear. The old electric clockworks motor that was removed will be refurbished by the City of Daytona Beach and placed in the Historical Society Museum.

Tom Bransford purchased new electric motors, kit hubs, hour and minute hands, and other parts from the American Time and Signal Company in Dassel, Minnesota. Daytona Beach city workers built a stainless steel mount and mounted the new clock motors up in the tower using stainless steel and brass hardware. These four new electric manual reset motors will keep all four clocks synchronized to the same time. Remote controls for each motor were also purchased so the clocks can be reset from the ground (instead of someone physically climbing up into the tower to manually reset them.) The city Zone Commission has pre-approved at least $5000.00 for the Clock Tower's clockworks restoration project, and the entire project has cost less than that.

Jim Zeisler and Tom Bransford will install the new hour and minute hands on all four dials and the start up the new motors on Friday, March 21, 2008. The Coquina Clock Tower will once again have its majestic clock dials displaying the time.

Additional restoration of the clock tower structure by the City of Daytona Beach includes draining the fountain, resurfacing the fountain pool area, re-pointing mortar, re-adhering pieces of loose coquina rock and installing two ventilation vents in the Clock Tower to circulate air around the new motors.

Looking into the future to ensure proper maintenance Jim Zeisler and Tom Bransford say that better ventilation in the Clock Tower is necessary, and, of course, pigeons and other birds have got to be kept out of the Clock Tower and away from the clockworks.

Chapter 154 continues to be dedicated to preserving the Coquina Clock Tower to ensure it runs for now and long into the future.

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¹Coquina means "tiny shell" in Spanish. The coquina rock is native to Florida's Atlantic shore. It consists of sedimentary mixtures of shell fragments and quartz grains that are held together by calcium carbonate and was formed when higher sea levels covered the present-day coastline. Coquina is soft and easy to cut in the ground, but hardens after being exposed to the open air, so it is a suitable stone for building and has been used in Florida for over four hundred years.

 ²The Work Progress Administration (WPA) was created on May 6, 1935 by a Presidential order issued by Franklin D. Roosevelt. Although Congress funded the WPA annually it did not set it up. It was the largest and most comprehensive New Deal agency, which employed millions of people and affected almost every locality in the United States, especially rural and western mountain populations. The WPA provided jobs and income to the unemployed during the Great Depression. The program built many public buildings, projects and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media and literacy projects. It also fed children, redistributed food, clothing and housing. The WPA ended in 1943 due to the economic boom caused by World War II.

³Sir Malcolm Campbell is internationally famous for setting nine world speed records between 1924 and 1935 (five in Daytona Beach, Florida.) He was the first person in the world to drive an automobile over 300 miles per hour when he achieved a speed of 301.337 mph. He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1990, the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1994, and twice (1933 and 1939) was awarded the Segrave Trophy. He died in 1948 following a long illness and was one of the few land speed record holders of his era to die of natural causes.