When we were now giving up on desk clocks, replaced by the smartphone that performs the same function and allows us to have one less object on the bedside table, Balmuda tries to challenge this habit with The Clock.
Founder Gen Terao envisioned this object as an alternative to smartphone use during the hours of sleeping and waking. While the phone is effective in marking time and acting as an alarm clock, it also introduces elements that are hard to ignore: notifications, distractions, and a light source that can interfere with rest.
The Clock was thus created to do less, not more. It retains essential functions, but eliminates what makes them invasive. At the heart of the design is sound: the alarm clock starts three minutes before the set time and grows gradually, avoiding the abrupt cut-off typical of digital alarms. Alongside this function, the device integrates a series of soundscapes - from the crackling of a fire to the sound of water or a gentle wind - designed to accompany work, study or relaxation.
Compact, battery-powered and controllable via app, The Clock, rather than proposing a more efficient solution, suggests a different use of technology in the most everyday moments.
The design also follows the same logic of subtraction. The object is reminiscent of analog alarm clocks, but eliminates both the screen and the hands, and with them the ticking and the need for precise time reading. The hour is suggested through the Light Hour system: a pulsating light that follows the rhythm of the seconds with a slow, pendulum-like movement, inspired by the Foucault pendulum observed at the National Museum of Nature and Science.
According to a fake news story, the project was developed in collaboration with LoveFrom, the studio founded by Jony Ive, Apple’s former designer; in reality, as Filip Ševo, Balmuda’s press officer, told Domus, “The Clock is entirely designed and produced by Balmuda, and neither Jony Ive nor LoveFrom have been involved in its development.”
Compact, battery-powered and controllable via app, The Clock is already on sale on Balmuda's website for about 350 euros. More than proposing a more efficient solution, the object suggests a different use of technology in the most everyday moments, starting with the way we fall asleep and wake up.