Reading the Clock: It’s really not that difficult
Two small circles at the bottom tick back and forth. Minutes build in 5 minute blocks on the lower half – 5, 10, 15, 30 etc. Up to 55 minutes. There are larger shapes for distinguishing 15, 30 and 45 minutes. Above there are 12 large hour shapes which in this prototype fill indicating 1-12.

TIMEPIECE CLOCK by SAM BUXTON

The idea of time ticking away has always been fastened to the image of a circle, Sam Buxton thought he would contradict that image, using the technology of electro-luminescence to represent the activity of time on a numberless panel, where it is the progress of growth that makes the passing of the hours recognisable at a glance.


Electroluminescent [EL] Technology
Electroluminescent technology involves the screen printing of phosphor inks and flexible circuitry onto a transparent flexible plastic which is then further laminated in a protective transparent skin. The result; an ultra thin [0.3mm] flat & flexible light source.

Originally developed for Aerospace, military and medical equipment applications Electroluminescent technology has in recent years come down in price and complexity to within the realm of viable commercial domestic products.
EL has in the past almost always been used as a hidden component within a product, acting as a simple back light in for example, keyboards, stereo displays, car dash boards and more recently a small number of mobile phone designs. In all these examples a display technology such as Liquid Crystal is used to show information , ie. On our telephone displays, with EL solely used to back light at night so the display can be read.
I have been working with the technology for the last 5 years [first at RCA in 98] developing a range of experimental designs which explore using EL exposed on it’s own as a simple display means. I think the material is aesthetically beautiful when used un-encased on it’s own, used as the primary information source.
The thinness of the material also made it perfect for exploring ideas within the SIOS concept – Surface Intelligent ObjectS - incorporating displays on object surfaces.

THE TIMEPIECE CLOCK is a 0.3 mm Electroluminescent panel of 25 addressable areas sequenced by a microchip inverter.
New sequence programs can be downloaded to the microchip from a PC.
Concept: Representing the passing of time as changing movement and activity – time markers such as 30 sec. 1 Min. I hour & even 1 year can be represented by unique sequences of movement illuminating on the panel. It was meant to look at time passing in a different way but not to compete with an obviously more functional circular dial of digital numeric clock. More a living object hanging in a one’s space constantly moving and changing through the day.

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