Category: Clock

Time

This clock rebels against the very thing clocks traditionally represent: time. Ironically, this clock is named Time, although more often than not the actual time is hidden from view. Studio Like This has designed this analog clock so that the hour can only be read when it is approached front-on. Through the use of modern nano technology, the classic hands disappear when viewed from any other angle.

Time requires one to hunt for the hour. It creates an extra step in our time-seeking process by forcing the user to physically move one’s body in order to know the hour. Consequentially, the classic question “what time is it?” creates a moment of philosophical analysis. One is compelled to also ask why knowing the time is important in that moment.

It is a human compulsion to constantly ask the time and we are reminded of its passing everywhere we look. Thinking about how much time has elapsed or the limited time we have can be stressful and oppressive. This clock attempts to return us to our current task by allowing the reminder of time to fade into the background. Time fights against its very presence, enabling us to finally dwell in the present.

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Catena Wall Clock

Designer Andreas Dober brings us back to tradition with this unique mechanical clock. Though it’s unlike anything we’ve seen before, the Catena Wall Clock produced by Anthologie Quartett, still seems familiar in its analog mechanical nature.

The Catena — named after the Latin word for chain — rotates a vertical bicycle chain with attached brass numbers in a clockwise direction. At the top of every hour the time appears at the zenith of the rotation. Between hours you can eyeball the amount of chain between numbers and get a surprisingly accurate estimate of the time. In the above clock photos, for example, it is approximately 11:05.

I love the clever simplicity of the Catena’s design, as well as the look.

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Jean Clock

Designed by Pierre Favresse, Jean is a small and minimal bubble of time, a dome of lightness struggling with weight, a 21st century digital tribute to the mechanical heaviness of Napoleonic clocks beneath bell jars.

Edited by Super-ette, Jean is as precious as the symbolic values, which vary between contrasting functional and playful, light and solid, to maliciously mark our little daily rituals. Each clock is accomplished with a single blow and is as unique and variable as a small moment of life.

Favresse says: Time and life are inextricably linked – we feel time pressures in our daily lives and wish we had more time; our time on this earth is limited and dictated by a clicking clock… Time therefore is something powerful yet fragile, which is why I wanted to encase it in a delicate white cloud of glass.

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clOck

clOck is a strikingly minimal project from UK based designer ShihWen Wang. The shape of this simple and rather unique timepiece has been stripped down to just a ring, making its visual impact on a wall, subtle and elegant. The look of the clock changes depending on a surface it put against, allowing the user to co-create the design in some way.

ShihWen Wang explains:

Devoid of numbers, clOck allows the creation of a subjective, personal time. While being hung on the wall, the whole piece seems like dissolving into the background, an integral part of the wall.

And because there is no structural support for hands, the time is represented by two dots; the red dot displays hours and the black one indicates minutes.

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Eclipsion

Cauca is a Korean design brand that collaborates with the most established and emerging designers to create inspiring decorative objects for the living environment.

They teamed up with Jay Jiwoong Baek to produce the very minimalist Eclipse wall clock designed around the imagery of a solar eclipse. The hands are invisible and you can only see the circles at their tips, when they overlap several times a day, the appearance of a solar eclipse is generated.

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Oak

This is Oak, the result of an extracurricular, collaborative student workshop at Lund University School of Industrial Design, Sweden. The goal: to explore archetypes and stereotypes in the world of furniture. The group developed a range of independent pieces, but which are actually impressively coherent. Of course it helps that they’re all made from the [...]

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Myk

Created by Norwegian-based SHE Design Studio, the Myk Clock was recently exhibited during the Stockholm Furniture Fair 2011.

It features a taut fabric pulled over the face of the clock so that its hands bulge intriguingly through.

Søfting and Tøftum, who founded SHE Design Studio say:

We love to experiment with materials and see how we can twist and turn them to create something new, aesthetically and functionally.

Although just a prototype in testing phase, I love it as it encourages peaceful feelings through its minimalist design.

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1px Clock

1px Clock is an iPhone app that shows time, ticking away one pixel per second.

Each square is built up of 60 rows of 60 pixels: one for each second. As such, one square represents one hour, and the total of 24 blocks make up 1 day.

1px Clock was developed by Japanese web design firm E-Bird, and is available as a 6×4 version and a 2×12 version. Download the 1px Clock here (free!).

No iPhone? It’s also downloable as a screensaver. (Thx, Derek!)

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The Colour Clock

The Colour Clock by London based designer Jack Hughes is a downloadable screen saver that represents the time in rotating color with hexadecimal color values. As the 6 digit clock ticks, the background color changes to the corresponding hexadecimal color.

It is simply beautiful!

Follow the Colour Clock link to see it in action. You can also see that hexadecimal value by clicking the button below the time.

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Obligatory Designer Clock

India-born designer Saikat Biswas really flexed his design muscle to create the Obligatory Designer Clock. It doesn’t have any hour and minute hands; instead, the hour markings dynamically change to show the time.

From 03:00 – 03:59, the 3rd marking slowly fills up by the minute. At 04:00, the 4th marking appears and fills up.

To see it in action, check out the time-lapse video on the left. Too bad it’s only a concept…

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