Marcin Saj's "Unusual Clock" Is a Modular, Four-Digit, Low-Resolution Flip-Disc Timepiece
Ticking over each minute with a satisfying flutter, this ready-to-run clock is powered by a Microchip ATmega328.
Electronics designer Marcin Saj has created a self-described "unusual clock" — using a modular array of electromechanical flip-discs for a pleasingly analog experience on each minute's tick.
"I've built a clock that tells time in an unconventional way — partially encoded, yet still easy to read at a glance," Saj claims of his latest creation. "Its clean, rectangular shape gives it a precise, engineered appearance, while the rhythmic sound of the flipping discs adds a quiet, mechanical charm. Designed for workspaces, labs, studios, or any environment where practical design and technical aesthetics are valued, this clock bridges the gap between utility and visual appeal."
Flip-disc displays work exactly as their name suggests: rather than having glowing LEDs or LCD segments, as with most modern digital clock displays, a flip-disc display triggers the mechanical flipping of a physical disc — one side typically black and the other a bright contrasting color. In the case of Saj's project, there's more than one display: the clock is made up of a quartet of 3×3 flip-dot matrices.
A 3×3 matrix is, of course, not enough to display numbers the traditional way — which is where the "partial encoding" comes in. Each quarter of the clock represents a digit: two for the hours, two for the minutes. The dots are flipped in a pattern mimicking that of a traditional Arabic numeral, albeit at a very low resolution: numbers like "4" and "0" are relatively recognizable, but others like "8" — represented by all discs flipped bar a single notch in the upper-left corner — will take a little getting used to.
This isn't Saj's first flip-disc display design, but it may be the most accessible. "This time I decided to make it a fully functional clock, assembled and ready to use, just need to connect the power supply," the designer explains. "The heart of the clock is the [Microchip] ATmega328 microcontroller (default 16MHz external crystal). The clock code was written in the Arduino IDE and uses MiniCore."
As with his other designs, Saj is funding production of the new clock on Kickstarter with physical rewards starting at €129 (around $144) including fully-assembled clock in a laser-cut acrylic case; hardware is expected to ship in August to reach backers in September, Saj says.