Besides the toll on your employee’s souls (or what’s left of them) long, drawn-out office meetings can end up costing your company a lot of money when it comes to lost productivity. So the TIM, or Time Is Money, clock makes it easy to calculate the true financial cost of a boring meeting.
Before things get under way you enter the number of people in the room, and an educated guess at the average hourly wage of everyone in attendance, and then hit the large illuminated Start button. As the seconds tick by the true cost of the meeting is displayed on the TIM’s monochrome LCD display, hopefully encouraging everyone to get to the point, and to quickly get back to their desks. And the first time you use the TIM you’ll probably want to factor in the clock’s $24.99 price tag to the cost of the meeting as well.
In general I find cuckoo clocks to be kind of creepy and disturbing, with that little obsessive compulsive bird that has to pop out every hour on the hour, but this one takes it to a whole new level. It’s a miniature diorama of the famous “Heeere’s Johnny!” scene from The Shining, but instead of a little bird making an appearance every hour, it’s a little Jack Nicholson who breaks through the door with his famous catch line. And if that’s not creepy enough, there’s also a miniature terrorized Shelly Duvall there for good measure, who follows up with a blood-curdling scream… every hour.
The clock was created by Chris Dimino, who thankfully doesn’t seem to have any intentions of mass producing it.
Paying tribute to the classic Kit-Cat Klock, this updated Homer Simpson version forgoes the wagging tail in favor of animated arms holding a donut in one hand, and a can of Duff in the other. His eyes move back and forth and each arm moves up and down while he contemplates the eternal question of which one he’ll eat first. Powered by 2xAA batteries the Homer clock is available from Perpetual Kid for $29.99.
As much a kinetic sculpture as it is a timepiece, the Oblique Clock reinterprets the hands of a traditional analog clock, adding extra geometry and structure that results in a constantly changing design as it ticks away the minutes throughout the day. And to make it as mysterious looking as possible, the custom engineered mechanical elements that drive the clock are hidden behind a rather large frame, leaving no question that this is first and foremost an art piece.
Here’s a few examples of how you actually read the time using the clock, and from what I can tell you mostly want to pay attention to the darker brown hands since the lighter colored pieces will just confuse you. To fully appreciate the clock’s movements, I highly recommend taking a few seconds to watch the video below where you can see it in motion.
And there’s good news for those of you who feel you must have one of these for your home or office. The Oblique Clock is being produced in a very limited run of just 20 pieces, and one of them can be yours for just $3,900 CAD.
Rarely do I look at a gadget and think, “I’m not worthy enough to own such a device,” but this is one of those times. Just looking at a photo of the the Jaeger-LeCoultre Atmos 566 makes me feel as if I’ve accidentally walked into a store that’s above my price range and level of sophistication, while the sales staff hope I quietly exit without making a scene. Even reading the description makes me feel awkward.
Reinvented by Australian designer Marc Newson, its balanced and simple design is as unexpected as it is obvious, resulting in a level of sobriety that borders on minimalist. Its Baccarat crystal case houses a new movement, the Jaeger-LeCoultre 566 Calibre, which in addition to indicating the hours and minutes, also displays the month, equation of time and a splendid view of the night sky as viewed from the Northern Hemisphere. It also includes an indication of the cardinal points and astrological signs. Two limited editions will be available: a series of 48 in Baccarat crystal, and another of just 28 in blue Baccarat crystal.
All I got to say is that’s one fancy ticker box you got there mister! And the price? Well if you actually care what it costs then I’m pretty sure this isn’t the desk clock for you. Now would you mind leaving without making a scene?
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.
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.
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.
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