In addition to the main story line (already interlaced with multiple flashbacks), each chapter also includes supplemental material from the Watchmen universe – newspaper clippings, book excerpts, copies of letters, police documents, etc.

Also interwoven into the story is the pirate-adventure comic Tales of the Black Freighter (which is being read by one of the characters as the story of Watchmen unfolds).

	AT MIDNIGHT, ALL THE AGENTS... Publication date: September 1986 Doomsday Clock time: 11:48 PM Plot summary: Investigating the murder of Edward Blake (aka The Comedian), costumed vigilante Rorschach visits several of his former colleagues, including Nite Owl, Ozymandias, Doctor Manhattan, and Silk Spectre... CHAPTER SYNOPSIS (SPOILERS) Epigraph: "At midnight, all the agents and superhuman crew, go out and round up everyone who knows more than they do." —Bob Dylan Supplemental material: Chapters I and II of Hollis Mason's autobiography, Under the Hood.
	ABSENT FRIENDS Publication date: October 1986 Doomsday Clock time: 11:49 PM Plot summary: At the funeral of Edward Blake, the former Crimebusters reflect on the violent and often contemptible career of The Comedian; Laurie Juspeczyk visits her mother, Sally Jupiter; Rorschach interrogates the former villain Moloch... CHAPTER SYNOPSIS (SPOILERS) Epigraph: "And I'm up while the dawn is breaking, even though my heart is aching. I should be drinking a toast to absent friends instead of these comedians." —Elvis Costello Supplemental material: Chapters III and IV of Hollis Mason's autobiography, Under the Hood.
	THE JUDGE OF ALL THE EARTH Publication date: November 1986 Doomsday Clock time: 11:50 PM Plot summary: A falling out with Laurie and a television interview turned ugly lead Doctor Manhattan to a crisis of conscience... CHAPTER SYNOPSIS (SPOILERS) Epigraph: "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" —GENESIS chapter 18, verse 25 Supplemental material: Chapter V of Hollis Mason's autobiography, Under the Hood.
	WATCHMAKER Publication date: December 1986 Doomsday Clock time: 11:51 PM Plot summary: Alone on Mars, Doctor Manhattan reflects on the course of events that changed him from Dr. Jon Osterman into the most powerful (and lonely) man in the universe... CHAPTER SYNOPSIS (SPOILERS) Epigraph: "The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking... The solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker." —Albert Einstein Supplemental material: Dr. Manhattan: Super-Powers and the Superpowers, by Professor Milton Glass.
	FEARFUL SYMMETRY Publication date: January 1987 Doomsday Clock time: 11:52 PM Plot summary: Laurie finds comfort and friendship in Dan Dreiberg; Adrian Veidt narrowly avoids assassination; Rorschach returns to interrogate Moloch again... CHAPTER SYNOPSIS (SPOILERS) Epigraph: "Tyger, Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry?" —William Blake Supplemental material: Chapter 5 of Treasure Island Treasury of Comics (1984) – a review of Joe Orlando, Mark Shea, and Walt Feinberg's 1960 comic, Tales of the Black Freighter.
	THE ABYSS GAZES ALSO Publication date: February 1987 Doomsday Clock time: 11:53 PM Plot summary: Dr. Malcolm Long interviews Walter Kovacs and gets a frightening look at the tortured soul of the man who became Rorschach... CHAPTER SYNOPSIS (SPOILERS) Epigraph: "Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, — and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." —Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche Supplemental material: Police file on Walter J. Kovacs, aka Rorschach, including: an NYPD arrest report; a patient history from New York State Psychiatric Hospital; a paper entitled My Parents written by Kovacs at the Lillian Charlton Home for Problem Children; a drawing and recollection of a dream Kovacs had while at the Charlton Home; a memo on Kovacs written by Dr. Malcolm Long.
	A BROTHER TO DRAGONS Publication date: March 1987 Doomsday Clock time: 11:54 PM Plot summary: Laurie Juspeczyk and Dan Dreiberg find themselves drawn back into their former roles of Silk Spectre and Nite Owl... CHAPTER SYNOPSIS (SPOILERS) Epigraph: "I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat." —JOB chapter 30, verses 29-30 Supplemental material: Blood from the Shoulder of Pallas, an article by Dan Dreiberg printed in the Journal of The American Ornithological Society in 1983.
	OLD GHOSTS Publication date: April 1987 Doomsday Clock time: 11:55 PM Plot summary: Silk Spectre and Nite Owl decide to spring Rorschach from prison; another former colleague meets a tragic end... CHAPTER SYNOPSIS (SPOILERS) Epigraph: "On Hallowe'en the old ghosts come about us, and they speak to some; to others they are dumb." —Hallowe'en, Eleanor Farjeon Supplemental material: October 31, 1985 issue of the New Frontiersman.
	THE DARKNESS OF MERE BEING Publication date: May 1987 Doomsday Clock time: 11:56 PM Plot summary: Doctor Manhattan returns to take Silk Spectre back to Mars with him, where they argue over the destiny of mankind... CHAPTER SYNOPSIS (SPOILERS) Epigraph: "As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being." —C. G. Jung, MEMORIES, DREAMS, REFLECTIONS Supplemental material: Items from Sally Jupiter's scrapbook, including: a 1939 article from the Daily World ("Villains Vie for Voluptuous Vigilante"); a celebrity-gossip-column item romantically linking Silk Spectre and Hooded Justice; a note from Hollywood producer King Taylor; a letter from Marine Lieutenant Nelson Gardner, aka Captain Metropolis; a letter from Larry Schexnayder; a film review of Silk Swingers of Suburbia; a 1976 Probe magazine interview with Sally Jupiter.
	TWO RIDERS WERE APPROACHING... Publication date: July 1987 Doomsday Clock time: 11:57 PM Plot summary: Ozymandias returns to his Antarctic retreat; Rorschach and Nite Owl follow the chain of murders and make an unpleasant discovery... CHAPTER SYNOPSIS (SPOILERS) Epigraph: "Outside in the distance a wild cat did growl, two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl." —Bob Dylan Supplemental material: A collection of memos and marketing materials from the Veidt corporation, regarding: the Veidt line of action figures; the "Veidt Method" of self-improvement; "Nostalgia by Veidt" cosmetics.
	LOOK ON MY WORKS, YE MIGHTY... Publication date: August 1987 Doomsday Clock time: 11:58 PM Plot summary: Rorschach and Nite Owl confront The Comedian's murderer and uncover a terrible threat... CHAPTER SYNOPSIS (SPOILERS) Epigraph: "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!" —Ozymandias, Percy Bysshe Shelley Supplemental material: After the Masquerade: Superstyle and the Art of Humanoid Watching – an interview with Adrian Veidt, formerly known as Ozymandias.
	A STRONGER LOVING WORLD Publication date: October 1987 Doomsday Clock time: 11:59 PM Plot summary: Disaster strikes New York City; Rorschach, Nite Owl, Silk Spectre, Doctor Manhattan, and Ozymandias all face an unpleasant truth and a terrible choice... CHAPTER SYNOPSIS (SPOILERS) Epigraph: "It would be a stronger world, a stronger loving world, to die in." —John Cale Epigraph for the novel: "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes. (Who watches the watchmen?)" —Quoted as the epigraph of the Tower Commission Report, 1987