The Color Clock is an arty electro-mechanical timepiece that displays the time as colours

Time was clocks had two or three hands that made their way around a circular face. Then came digital, dumbing down everything, with its straightforward numbers. Now, The Color Clock (from £165) is here to punch your brain in the face with a new way of telling time. The clock itself is iPad-inspired loveliness – all solid wood and aircraft-grade aluminium. Its innards sync with the exact atomic time, and never need setting – even during daylight savings. However, the time is displayed as four constantly shifting coloured areas. To decipher this code, you must commit to memory the number each colour represents, and which circles represent hours and minutes, and then do a swift bit of maths. Or you can just cheat, look at your watch, and consider The Color Clock more art piece than timepiece – one that’s forever changing on your wall.

Craig Grannell Contributor

About

I’m a regular contributor to Stuff magazine and Stuff.tv, covering apps, games, Apple kit, Android, Lego, retro gaming and other interesting oddities. I also pen opinion pieces when the editor lets me, getting all serious about accessibility and predicting when sentient AI smart cookware will take over the world, in a terrifying mix of Bake Off and Terminator.

Areas of expertise

Mobile apps and games, Macs, iOS and tvOS devices, Android, retro games, crowdfunding, design, how to fight off an enraged smart saucepan with a massive stick.