By Evan Ackerman

This is what’s called a sundial cannon, or a noon cannon. Assuming the weather cooperates, at noon exactly the lens on the sundial focuses sunlight onto a pan filled with gunpowder, setting off the cannon to mark the time. Generally, the cannons weren’t loaded with shot, but with all of the novelty alarm clocks out there, it seems like one that automatically shoots you could be really, really effective, in a potentially dangerous sort of way. And hey, it’s even solar powered.

VIA [ Neatorama ]

Want to seriously stress out your co-workers? Be ‘that creepy guy’ in accounting who just hung up a photo that looks and sounds just like a ticking time bomb. But, upon closer examination they’ll find that the timer mechanism is an actual clock that isn’t counting down to any time in particular. Though something tells me security will still come a-knockin’ no matter how innocuous this really is. ~$34 from RED5.

[ Sumo Canvas Clock Bomb ] VIA [ Nerd Approved ]

If you need a clock that will surely stand the test of time you’ll want to keep your fingers crossed that Daniel Kurth’s Nixie Concrete Clock actually goes into production. At the moment it’s just a one-off concept featuring a set of six vintage Z560M Nixie tubes embedded in a fairly hefty block of concrete, but Daniel is apparently looking into production possibilities.

The concrete clock can apparently be wall mounted too if you prefer, with sufficient engineering of course, and the time is displayed in an irregular fashion so as not to stress people out by constantly reminding them of what time it actually is. But if you just have to know, it was 10:28:09 when the above photo was taken.

[ The Nixie Concrete Clock ] VIA [ Yanko Design ]

The Energy Aware Clock provides a more visually appealing, and easier to understand display of the energy usage in a particular room throughout the day. Created by a small army of Swedish designers (Loove Broms, Karin Ehrnberger, Sara Ilstedt Hjelm, Erika Lundell and Jin Moen) the clock forgoes a traditional face in favor of a circular graph that makes it pretty obvious to tell when the energy usage in the room where it’s installed has noticeably increased. And the actual time is indicated by the brightest spikes on the graph.

The Energy Aware Clock is part of the Visual Voltage Exhibition at Design Vlaanderen in Brussels, which runs until October 2nd.

[ designboom - visual voltage exhibition at design vlaanderen, brussels ] VIA [ Unplggd ]

There’s a definite charm to the glowing display on an old-school vacuum tube clock, and if you’ve ever been curious how they work, or how they go together, this Ice Tube Clock Kit let’s you build your own. It comes with everything you’ll need, including a glowing blue tube with 8 digits plus an alarm status indicator, and when assembled you’ll have all the functions you’d find in a traditional model like a snooze button, date functions and even a 2-week battery backup. The kit will set you back $70 from the Adafruit Industries website, but it appears they’re currently out of stock until September 22 at the earliest.

[ Ice Tube VFD Clock Kit ] VIA [ Geeky Gadgets ]

Ooh! Another minimalist clock design. This time it’s by Petter Knudsen who has a design studio in Bergen, Norway. While it doesn’t appear to be available for sale, his Hubless Clock features a set of inner and outer tabs that rotate around the circumference of the clock’s ‘face’ instead of hands. Unfortunately his website’s a bit vague when it comes to the mechanics of how the clock actually works, or if it even does work, but it’s still a nice piece of eye candy nevertheless.

[ Hubless Clock ] VIA [ bookofjoe ]

By Chris Scott Barr

I remember being little and hating my grandparents old grandfather clock. While I enjoyed the pleasant tones it emitted every fifteen minutes, it featured Roman numerals, which were a pain to read. I’d have to stare at it for a moment to really figure things out. I still prefer a standard digital clock, as it only takes a quick glance to tell you the exact time. I’ve often wondered, how much more (or less) efficient would a clock be that spelled out the time in words? Well now there is one that does that very thing.

The QLOCKTWO is a strange clock that tells time by writing things like “IT’S FIVE PAST NINE.” Its biggest drawback is that it only spells things out in five-minute increments. If you want it to be more precise, you have to look to the four corners of the clock, each of which has a dot that represents a single minute. This clock-turned-art-piece will probably be the most expensive thing in your living room, should you choose to buy it. The asking price is just under $1,600. If you’re cheap like me, you can just buy the QLOCKTWO app for your iPhone, which is only a mere $.99.

[ QLOCKTWO ] VIA [ Technabob ]

Created by Japan’s Mile Project, the Good Afternoon Clock features no hands or even a face for that matter. Instead, a set of slits that encircle the inside of the clock’s bezel allow narrow beams of light to shine through that end up representing the second, minute and hour hands when seen on a wall or other flat surface. And while I’m sure the clock exists in some form or another, I’m afraid you won’t be getting your hands on one anytime soon.

[ MILE - good afternoon ] VIA [ MoCo Loco ]

Can I interest anyone in a fake light switch that only shows the time via a small red LED display? And while I say ‘fake’ because it can’t be used to control any lights, the on/off switch does actually work, but only to turn the time display on and off. But why would anyone want to do that? Well to stop time of course!

Whenever I screw up and the deadline ties me up, I always think. “I wanna stop the time.” Of course I know nobody can do that. But instead of stopping the time, at least I might forget about it. That’s the starting of the idea. This clock is for people who want to turn the time off for a while. It doesn’t show you the time if you turn the switch off. As soon as you turn it on, the projection starts to light up from the back and show the time.

[ Time Switch ] VIA [ wrooney ]

Designed by Il-Gu Cha, the ‘Trace of Time’ clock is made from stainless steel with a glass face that allows you to jot down meetings and other important events when they’re supposed to happen. But the single hour/minute hand actually features an integrated eraser which cleans the clock’s face as it sweeps around over a 24 hour period. So while the clock’s useful for planning out your day, you can forget about jotting down things you’ll need to remember later in the week, since they’ll be gone by tomorrow.

[ Trace of Time ] VIA [ MAKE: Blog ]