For cat people who have everything

They already own fourteen cat mugs. Please don't buy them a fifteenth.

Every cat lover has a drawer of cat-themed presents they never use. Here's the one that gets hung on the wall instead.

AvoryHome · a small UK shop

Wooden cat-shaped wall clock, tail hanging below the face — The tail is the pendulum — it sweeps side to side all day while the clock keeps time.

You know exactly who this is about. The friend whose camera roll is 80% the same cat. The sister with a voice she only uses when speaking to him. The colleague with the lock screen, the mug and the calendar.

Which should make them easy to buy for, and makes them the hardest, because everyone else had the same idea first. The mug: they have six. The socks: worn once, gone. The calendar: enjoyed until mid-February. The little ceramic one: loved for a fortnight, now behind the kettle.

None of it is bad. It's just that most of it is a joke with nowhere to live.

The question isn't “will they laugh?” It's “will it still be in the room at Easter?”

The presents that survive get a spot — on the wall, in the way of daily life, used without thinking about it. And when a visitor notices, the story gets told again.

The one that moves

A clock that wags

Everything else in the room is standing still. That's the whole trick, and it's why people spot it from the doorway.

AvoryHome · a small UK shop

Most things on a wall are finished the moment you hang them. A picture is a picture. A shelf is a shelf. You stop seeing them inside a week.

This one keeps moving. The tail hangs below the body and swings, side to side, all day — not fast, not frantic, a slow sweep like a metronome that's pleased to see you.

It does something odd to a room. Motion catches the eye before colour or shape does, so visitors notice it before they've taken their coat off, and then they have to go and look.

Nobody has ever walked past it without saying something.

For light sleepers

The clock you can hear at two in the morning

Ticking is fine in a kitchen and unbearable in a hallway at night. There's a version of this that doesn't do it.

AvoryHome · a small UK shop

The clock on the wall of a child's bedroom — Quiet enough for a bedroom, which is where a lot of them end up.

You only notice a ticking clock when the house goes quiet. Then it's all you can hear: the second hand stepping, once a second, through the wall, at the exact moment you were dropping off.

Novelty clocks are the worst offenders. They're bought for the look, hung in a hallway or a child's room, and taken down a month later because nobody can sleep through them.

This one uses a silent sweep movement. The hands glide instead of stepping, so there's no tick-tock at all. The only thing moving is the tail, and the tail is quiet.

For a wall that needs something

The most boring object in your house is on the wall right now

A white plastic circle with numbers on it. Here's what happens when the clock is the interesting part instead.

AvoryHome · a small UK shop

Think about your clock. Actually picture it. Round, white or black, plastic, bought in a hurry years ago because a room needed one.

It does its job and adds nothing — which is a waste, because it sits at eye level on a wall everybody looks at several times a day. The most-looked-at spot in the room, filled with the least interesting object you own.

Swap it for something with a bit of character and the wall stops being blank. Same job, same spot, one hook.

For people who can't have one

The cat your landlord can't say no to

No pet clause. No allergies. No hair on the sofa. Still a cat on the wall.

AvoryHome · a small UK shop

Some people love cats and can't have one. A tenancy that says no pets. Someone in the house who sneezes. Hours too long to leave an animal alone all day.

It's a small, specific sadness, and everyone in that position has a folder of photos of other people's cats on their phone.

This one doesn't shed, doesn't scratch the door at 6am, and stays exactly where you put it.

A clock is a strange thing to be charmed by

This one is cut from wood in the shape of a very round, very content cat. Black face, clear numbers, ears part of the shape. Then the tail hangs below and swings, side to side, all day — which is the entire trick.

Motion catches the eye before colour or shape does. In a room where nothing else moves, people notice it from the doorway, and then they have to go and look.

Close-up of the wood grain on the clock's face and ears

Paulownia and birch with an acrylic face, and quiet enough for a bedroom — which is where a lot of them end up.

The quiet part matters more than people expect. A ticking second hand is fine in a kitchen and unbearable in a hallway at 2am, which is exactly where the interesting clock tends to get hung. This one uses a silent sweep movement: the hands glide instead of stepping, so there's no tick-tock at all. The only thing moving is the tail.

One hook, two minutes, done

Set the time, hang it straight, and the tail does the rest.

See the Chubb Cat

Four things worth checking on any clock like this

Swinging-tail clocks all look much the same in a photograph, and then behave very differently on a wall. Four things separate the ones people keep from the ones that end up in a cupboard.

The movement. A stepping movement jumps the second hand once a second, and you can hear it across a quiet room. A silent sweep glides instead. If a listing doesn't say which it is, assume it ticks — sellers of silent ones tend to mention it.

The tail. This is the part reviews of cheaper versions complain about: a pendulum that taps the body as it swings, so you've swapped a tick for a knock. The tail wants to hang clear of the shape and swing freely, which also means hanging the clock straight.

What it's made of. Plenty of novelty clocks are printed board with a plastic face. Wood catches the light differently, and the grain means no two are quite identical — this one is paulownia and birch with an acrylic face.

The size. The most common disappointment with wall clocks bought online is scale: a 20 cm clock looks generous in a photo and vanishes on a real wall. Measure the gap you're filling before you buy anything — this one is 45.5 cm tall with the tail.

The bits people ask about before they buy

SIZE
45.5 cm tall with the tail, 28 cm wide — bigger than the photos suggest

SOUND
Silent sweep movement. No tick, no tock

POWER
A single AA battery, which isn't included

MADE OF
Paulownia and birch wood with an acrylic face. Not plastic

HANGING
One nail or picture hook. Nothing to assemble

WHERE
Indoors — hallways, bedrooms, kitchens, above a desk

Where it tends to end up

Hallways, mostly — the wall by the front door that has never had anything on it, where you check the time on the way out and visitors see it first. After that: kitchens, above a desk, and children's rooms, where the moving tail earns its keep while somebody learns to tell the time.

It wants a bit of plain wall rather than a gallery of frames, and enough clearance below the clock face for the tail to swing — about a hand's width is plenty.

Who it isn't for

If the room is all straight lines and plain white dials, this will fight it — it's a cartoon cat, and it means it. It's an indoor clock, so not for a porch or a shed. And if the person you're buying for has said more than once that they don't want any more cat things, believe them.

See the Chubb Cat

If it's going straight to them

Tick “Sending it as a gift?” before adding it to the basket and the price is left out of the parcel — no receipt, no invoice, nothing showing what you paid. Put their address in as the delivery address and it goes direct, tracked, in 7–10 working days. Buy two or more and delivery is free and you're covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee, so if it isn't right when it lands, it goes back.

What arrives is the clock, the fixings and the hands set to twelve — five minutes of work for whoever unwraps it. Worth taping an AA battery to the box if you're wrapping it, so it can go up the same afternoon rather than waiting for a trip to the shop.

Most people who buy two do it for the obvious reason: they went looking for a present, saw it, and decided they weren't giving theirs away. It also means one order, one delivery, and the pair arrive together.

Does it really not tick?
No. Silent sweep hands glide rather than step. The tail moves quietly.

Will it stay on the wall?
It's light wood on a single nail or picture hook. No plugs, no bracket.

Is there one for dog people?
Yes — Dawn, a wooden sausage dog whose tail and back legs swing. Have a look.

Back to the drawer, then. Everything in it was bought by somebody who meant well and had run out of ideas. This is the one that doesn't go in there — it goes on a hook, in a hallway, and swings its tail at everyone who walks past.

See the Chubb Cat

Tracked UK delivery · free on two or more · 30-day money-back guarantee on two or more

This page is an advertisement published by AvoryHome, a UK shop selling a small range of things for the home. The photographs show the product we sell. Delivery times and the guarantee stated here are the ones that apply at checkout. Refund policy · Terms of service · Contact us · © 2026 AvoryHome