Ever since smartphones became ubiquitous, we rarely see actual clocks in houses and offices. In fact, young kids now don’t know how to tell time using analog clocks since they’re so used to just seeing numbers on their screens (look for hilarious videos on Tiktok about this). And if you do have a clock on your walls, it’s the usual ones that you can buy at a store. But if you’re into design and aesthetics, there are some clocks out there that are pretty unique, and some like this, even have a noisy feel that come along with it.
Designer: Hans Andersson
The Time Slider is a clock design that shows four sliders which look like pixels and are actually 3D-printed frames. They move up and down to various positions to show the pixels for a specific digit to tell the specific hour or minute. It is made using an Arduino Mega 2560 board, a real-time clock (RTC) module, motor drivers, wires, and a power supply. The design actually lets you scale up or down to whatever size you want the wall clock to be. It also doesn’t have any buttons to set the time so it must be configured and code uploaded when you set it up.
The other unique thing about this clock design is that it is pretty noisy. Every time it changes the numbers, which is almost every second of course, you get a very distinct, mechanical sound that can sound like an alien trying to make contact with you. So you might not be able to get any sleep the first few days this clock is installed in your house but you will probably, eventually get used to the noise. If not, you probably shouldn’t get this one since you have been “warned” about the sound.
The Time Slider really has a great aesthetic look and the stepper motors and its accompanying sound gives it an even better feel (if you can stand the noise). The fact that it’s also a 3D printed device and is an Arduino product, which is pretty popular with a certain crowd, adds even more to the appeal for those looking to bring back an actual clock to their space.
