1970′s Clocks | Buy Retro Clocks

Faux Flip-Clock Alarm Dock
Although strictly speaking, this isn’t a phone, this cool iPhone dock from Areaware converts you existing iPhone into a neat retro-looking flip clock radio that looks it warped right in from the 1970′s. It gives you the look of one of those vintage GE Flip Clocks sitting next to your bed with all the modern technology and convenience of your trusty iPhone. Designed by Jonas Damon, the Alarm Dock by Areaware contains no actual electronics or speakers, it is simply a beautiful sustainably harvested beech wood case that you feed your charger cord into, then just dock your iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4 and 4S and start [...]
Test Page Wall Clock
Please Stand By… From Nextime, Dutch design company which has made a name for itself by designing a whole slew of cool and funky clocks from the modern and mundane to the down right wacky, the contemporary styled Test Page Glass Wall Clock lies somewhere right in between. This glass faced wall clock was designed by Fritz Fink as a humorous take on the retro, nostalgic old test pattern shown on televisions when the networks went off the air. Gosh, it’s hard to believe there was a time when TV wasn’t running 24 hours a day. With a large, multicolored, 17″ glass face and rectangular metal hands [...]
Stylish Number Design Wall Clock
Cool Number Wall Clock! A recent trend in wall clocks has been oddly shaped numbers free-floating around the central movement and I have to admit that I am kind of a sucker for these contemporary clocks. I have seen them made from wood and plastic but the vast majority of them a cut out of thin metal with a plasma cutter. But anyone that has seen these clocks around has to admit that these number clocks can very widely in how well they are executed. Like any trend, the market is soon flooded with poor quality reproductions that don’t show [...]
Cool Retro Flip Clock
Remember the retro flip clocks from the 60s? The precursor to the digital clocks of the 1970s, flip clocks were an analog method of showing the time as a digital representation. As the minutes pass by, a panel with half of a numeral printed on both front and back flips down. The two halves of each digit fit together to form a bold and easy to read number to indicate the minute. The same thing is repeated once an hour to show the hour. It is a very simple mechanical solution from the days before miniaturization created circuits that were small enough to fit [...]
Build A 7 Ft Grandfather Clock With K’NEX
How would you like to build your own full size 7 ft tall, fully functional grandfather clock? Well unless you have years of experience in fine woodworking, this is probably something you are not going to attempt. Well, it may not be as hard as you think is you choose the right building materials. When my son was 7 years old we bought him a small set of a plastic building toy called K’NEX. It is kind of like the modern-day answer to the old Erector Set. Over the years, we collected more and more sets and his building projects expanded to be more and [...]

That 70′s Retro Alarm Clocks

Feb 152012

Wake up in the 1970′s…or at least with this cool retro alarm clock from Infinity Instruments you can feel like you did. That 70′s Retro Alarm Clock in not like the new fangled digital alarm clocks that have an alarm that gently soothes you awake and is easily convinced to allow you nine more minutes of sack time.

The style is not the only thing retro about this baby, although with its rounded square face, 70′s style numerals on the dial, thick hour and minute hands and plastic lens it definitely looks like it was transported for around 1972. This thing wakes you up the way a clock from that crazy decade did as well, with a loud ringing and clanging bell and no second chance with a snooze alarm.

The big plastic button on the top either turns it on, or (thank heavens) off. It is loud too, not even the heaviest sleepers will stand a chance of sleeping through this retro alarm clock. Although I wouldn’t recommend this 1970′ style alarm clock for those who enjoy that blissfully warm, drowsy nine minutes of paradise before you have to again face the reality of your day.

Although That 70′s Retro Alarm Clock does look cool and groovy with its cheap plastic body, easy to read retro numbers and several colors of gaudy and garish vintage colors to choose from. You can buy the That 70′s Retro Alarm Clock in Cream with Red Face, or the slightly less tastefully colored Red with Cream Face with the opposite color scheme.

If those are a bit to flashy for your style is always the much more subtle but equally vintage looking Cream with a Navy Blue Face or the always popular and tasteful That 70′s Retro Alarm Clock in Cream with Brown Face, a very popular color in that memorable decade.

Each one of these is guaranteed to throw you back to the days of flared leg pant suits and the Captain and Tennille and will make sure you get up in time for that Led Zeppelin concert you don’t want to miss.

Time Machine Kinetic Ball Clock

Novelty Clocks 1 Response »

Nov 132011

Many people remember this retro favorite from the late 1960s and early 1970s. The rolling ball clock was not only a fascinating way to watch the passage of time it actually has the distinction of being the first absolutely original way of keeping time in, quite literally, centuries. I remember my uncle getting one of these for Christmas in the mid 70′s and being fascinated with watching the balls ticking off the hours, minutes and seconds.

Although they were licenced by a company called Arrow Handycraft and later by Mattel in the late 70′s and early 80′s, many people don’t know that they were invented by Harley Mayenschein in the 1970′s. Harley Mayenschein was an inventor and tinker from Wisconsin who invented things like a bacon cutting machine for Oscar Meyers and had a major hand in inventing the radio that allowed people to listen to the moon landing live from earth.

After being laid off from Motorola, Harley continued to tinker and invent from home. He got the inspiration for the rolling ball clock one day while helping his young granddaughter count gumballs by lining them up on his workbench. It was then that he had is eureka moment! He began to create these amazing retro clocks as his hobby from his home workshop as gifts for friends and family they were originally made from solid hardwood. Soon everybody wanted one and word began to spread so in the 1970′s he founded the Idle-Tyme Corporation and began producing the Idle-Tyme Rolling Ball Clock.

The way these fascinating clocks keep time is through the use of three numbered rails, the top rail counts off five minutes, the second rail counts the minutes in multiples of five and the longest rail on the bottom counts off the hours. An electric motor scoops up one ball every minute and deposits it on the top rail. After five minutes, the fifth ball creates an imbalance and dumps one ball onto the second rail and deposits the rest into a feeder rail at the bottom to be re-used. The second rail count off in five minute intravals until, after an hour, the second rail dumps a ball onto the third rail to calculate the hours and the rest of the balls return to the feed rail to be re-used. After twelve balls count off on the third rail, all the balls cycle through and dump onto the feed rail and the whole process begins again.

As a child, I remember waiting for all the excitement to occur at 1:00 when with the tipping of rails and the rolling of balls the whole machine clattered in a flurry of kinetic action.

Well this wonderfully innovative retro clock design is available again from Can You Imagine, now called the Can You Imagine Time Machine Tabletop Clock. It has the same ultra-modern design and features an acrylic display case that covers the entire mechanism.

After singing it’s nostalgic praises, maybe I should fill you in on some of it’s drawbacks. The Time Machine Kinetic Ball Clock is pretty delicate and it can be a bit touchy. The arm sometimes can be mistimed which can lead to the time drifting off a bit. The rails don’t always tip and occasionally the entire feeder track can become misaligned causing the balls to fall into the acrylic case. It usually takes some fiddling around to get it to work right. Also, this clock is loud, much louder than you think. The clattering racket that so delighted me at 1:00 in the afternoon can be quite disconcerting at 1:00 in the morning so I wouldn’t advise keeping it in your bedroom.

Overall this retro clock is educational, entertaining and fun so if you ware looking for a fun gizmo that is a great conversation piece, the vintage design of the Time Machine Tabletop Clock is perfect. I have found these cool modern clocks online priced between $40.00 and $80.00 but if you click on the link below you van buy one through Amazon at a consistently low price of $40.00 or even less plus free shipping.