A Clock That Makes Time Feel Less Like Sand Through an Hourglass
The aptly named Around Five tells the time in a straight line.
The Around Five clock.
Photographer: Joyce Lee for Bloomberg Businessweek
Time is our most valuable commodity, a sentiment that the novelty office clocks of yore (the famous black-and-white Kit-Cat Klock or perhaps a white-sand-filled hourglass) exploited by intentionally drawing attention to the steady stream of seconds. Those clocks now represent an outdated urgency to get through the workday quickly—who wants to be reminded of how much time they’re losing? In a modern world full of distracting emails and Zoom calls, the $3,850 Around Five clock is a calming breath of fresh air. The time is counted in a straight 24-hour stretch by a sail that moves slowly along an undulating wave of hour markers from 6 a.m. to 6 a.m., at which point it retreats to the start of its journey.
THE COMPETITION
• MoMA Design Stores’ Textime clock ($295) skips the seconds, too, telling the time in written words across its face (for example, “It’s five forty-five”), with an update every minute. It’s a casual conversation starter.