When it’s 11:58 and someone asks you the time do you say “11:58?” Hell no - you say “why it’s about 12 my good man! Let’s ditch work and get some lunch.” That having been said, why should our clocks be any different? The It’s About Time Clock tells time like we do - using phrases like “quarter to one” and “quarter past twelve.”
If the clever designers at insightoutsight ever put this on the market I would buy one.
Update: Art. Lebedev has put one on the market that is very similar to the concept featured above, it is available here
Via: Design Spotter
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Tags: clocks, Design, unique
13 responses
Sep 27, 2007 at 3:41 pm
I love the idea, but those aren’t exactly “phrases that I use”. I’ve never said “just gone” to designate just after the hour, or “half” to say thirty. I would be all over this clock if it really did use normal phrases.
Sep 27, 2007 at 4:20 pm
I think they are common phrases in the UK.
Sep 27, 2007 at 5:59 pm
They’re certainly common in Australia.. Half past has become quite a colloquialism, being pronounced “huppast”. We also use “quarter to” or “quarter past” for fifteen minutes. I’d buy this clock if it sold here!
Sep 29, 2007 at 6:13 pm
Many of these phrases are also common in Western PA. I say “half past” or “quarter after” or “quarter till”, etc.
Oct 1, 2007 at 5:50 am
About Time is already available in the format I blogged about last month here:
http://saeed-m.com/blog/gadgets/why-tell-the-time-accurately-when-you-can-do-it-with-about-time
Oct 1, 2007 at 7:41 am
The system tray clock in linux (or at least, in KDE) has a “fuzzy” setting which pretty much achieves the same effect. Might be possible to get something similar for Windows/Mac platforms too.
Oct 3, 2007 at 7:14 pm
I saw a similar thing many years ago - traditional clock face with an hour hand and a minute hand, but no marking for minutes and only the numbers 10, 1 and 4.
It’s was easy to get a handle on - most things start by ten in the morning (work f’r instance), one is about lunchtime, four is about time to knock off and go home.
Moving into the evening - ten is time to think about hitting the sack, one is the time you come home, four is the time you sneak out and go back to your place…
I want one, but never saw it again
Oct 5, 2007 at 1:43 pm
I like that clock
Oct 5, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Unless you are late for a train. And some loafer tells you its some unknowable time before the hour. I can see when you look at an analog time piece. But if the digital timepiece says 12:58 just say its twelve fifty eight. Do all you people live on Gilligan’s Island and don’t ever have to be anywhere?
Oct 5, 2007 at 4:09 pm
Here on the west coast of the USA we also use those terms. I’m not sure where those of you who do not are from as it seems e have a good representation saying they use those terms. Maybe its merely the way one is raised?
Oct 7, 2007 at 2:01 pm
I use “quarter to” and “quarter past”, just like everyone else does. But when it’s 12:30, I don’t say it’s “Half twelve.” I say it’s “Half past twelve.” See the difference? A whole extra word. And when it’s 12:01, I don’t say it’s “Just gone twelve” … I say it’s “just after twelve,” maybe, but not “just gone twelve.” I also don’t say anything remotely close to “just gone half twelve.”
Oct 8, 2007 at 4:32 am
Yeh I hay half-twelve qaurter to ,and quarter past. Maybe even 20 to or 20 past if im feeling accurate
Only in Australia, the land where we shorten the words so much we shorten the abbreviations.
eg. the Melborne Cricket Ground, or MCG, but most of us just call it the G … ehehe
Oct 14, 2007 at 6:33 am
This firefox addon also does the same thing: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1742
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