Elaborate electromechanical clock built around a nutcracker

When John Hilgenberg got a nutcracker for Christmas, he decided to make it the centerpiece of a huge, delightful rubegoldbergian clock that strikes every four hours, using a combination of eight bells and a complex arrangement to motors and gears.

John Hilgenberg’s Quarterdeck Striker

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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It strikes every half hour, not every four hours, and there’s only one bell. The naval time cycle is four hours, with each half hour in that four hour cycle being one “bell”. The first half hour it strikes one, the second half hour it strikes two, and so on. At Eight bells, your four-hour watch is over and someone else takes over.
- oasisob1
  
  No, at 8 bells you’re still on watch, wondering where the hell your relief is, because he (or she) is already 15 minutes late.