I talked to my woodworking friend and here is where he gets some of his clocks... woodworkingparts
I got another clock from him that I am going to put on a ivory knob.

Yes, it is a friction fit, the clock housing has a rubber gasket that creates the fit. I drilled a 5/16" hole thru to the threaded insert, by doing this I can use a 1/4" dowel to push the clock out.

The manufacture says to drill a 1 3/8" hole, my hole was smaller, I just kept checking the fit until I had what I wanted.