Finally an alternative to the discontinued TIX Clock

(aka The Random Pattern Clock)

Time^Cubed

Now shipping. Two versions, either with or without the frame/case.

Priced at $109 or $79 respectively. Ordering button on home/index page.
Chonoart.com

This is a very l-o-n-g page. Scroll fast for overview, or slow if you love the details.

The Ultimate in Contemporary Clocks Established 1971

Read on to learn about Time^Cubed and how it was conceived and born.

My name is Barry Gamble. I am the owner of ChronoArt Inc.

I've been dreaming up, designing, and manufacturing electronic art clocks in northern California for 45 years.

I met Jim Thompson, the creator of the TIX clock, when he came to visit me because he was being harrased by a patent troll. I liked his random pattern concept. I think he was the first person to use this concept in a clock.

I proceeded to designing the TimeArt ($400) and TimePortal ($2,000) clocks over the next few years using the random idea for color, but not for pattern.

My design goal for Time^Cubed was to offer both Random Pattern & Random Color with a more artful look.

And I liked the idea of a clock that displayed the time using fives and ones. For example if you see a nickel and three pennies you just think 8 cents, you just know it, you don't really even count. Read on to see how we use this.

Plus I wanted to get the price down.

This concept was pushed along by a customer, transformed to a friend, whose enthusiasm gave me energy.

Learning of this concept, he showered me with dozens of layout possibilities.

I chose a 5" desk size with a face showing 3 faces of a cube.

I thought you might enjoy watching the development process, so here it is.

First, made two Adobe Illustrator files, one of the black face and one of the white segments and lattice.

Then order laser cut parts of those files.

March —— laser cut parts arrive.

First parts are received and being glued in.

Glue dried. Looking good.

Couldn't resist putting a light underneath –– reinforcing my design fun.

Parts are arriving, microprocessors, LED drivers, LEDs.

Printed circuit board designed and ordered. Programming code started. Late March.

Printed circuit board arrives, loading started. April 8th.

First light –– Yea. April 11th. Looks great.

(Not displaying any information yet. Just showing colors)

Time Passes...................it displays correctly, yea. But the wrong time!

A month using the latest of microprocessors, but sadly it has a noise problem, gaining 10 seconds every minute.

Ordered another processor mid May.

Time Passes................Yea –– it keeps time, BUT-- was too old of a design making it hard to use.

Ordered a 3rd not so new, not so old, also known as, the just right "Goldilocks" microprocessor mid June.

Arrives, all is well in the land of engineer's-world, good progress of features.

At this point in design it clarifies your thinking if you start writing customer instructions and sales copy.

So we created this.

After a day or two it becomes very fast to read.

Some examples:

Front view, of the version without case. See more pictures below.

You get to chose the white or dark display mode, the brightness and the hourly chime.

The color and positions lit on each side randomly change every 10 seconds.

What my customers have loved in all my designs.

Playful.

A puzzle, if you don't know how to read it, but easy if you do.

A conversation piece.

A great gift for either the artful, playful, or technical personality in so many of us.

Useful.

Has an optional hourly chime as a pleasant reminder of the hour.

If you go to Video link below, when done, hit your browser back button.

Note: Chime is much sweeter than Audio track, and the color accuracy is way off.

YouTube Video of Hourly Chime.

The case is a matte finish flat black acrylic.

What it does:

The display sequences a new random pattern of lit positions and colors every 10 seconds.

First a new hours pattern & color, then one second later, a new 10's of minutes pattern & color,

then one second later, the minutes. Holds that display for 7 seconds and starts over.

Selectable Features:

You can turn the Hourly Chimes sound, ON/OFF

You can choose to either have the non time telling segments on each face lit White of off (called Dark Mode). It is a little easier to read the time from a distance in the Dark Mode. I like both modes.

I was a divided about the sequence of the time appearing on each face, so you get a choice. Play with it when you get it.

Other Features:

You can adjust the brightness of the display. Mainly useful for a bright office or a dark bedroom.

Has 50-60 seconds of power backup for those short pesky lightning strike type of power outages.

Should not gain or lose time as long as power is on.

The features you have chosen are stored in Flash memory. So if you have a power failure, when it restarts, it will remember those modes, so all you have to do is set the time.

Choices:

Comes 2 ways, with or without a case. With case shown above, without case below –– scroll down to see.

Size:

With case 5.1" X 5.2" X 1.5"

Without case, open frame design: 4.88" X 4.88" X 1.35"

Power:

Less than 2 Watts, 120 VAC transformer at end of power cord.

I plan a version for 240VAC 50 Hz for Europe.

Warranty:

One year on parts an labor.

Prices?

Priced at $109, with case.
$79 without case
If you order 1 or 2 the shipping stays the same $10.95.

Each addition one is a little less, in the $5 - $10/unit area .

When?

Just started shipping, on September 20.

How long will I manufacture and sell the TimeCubed?

Generally I'll make a few hundred the first year, half that the next year, and sadly, have to let it die in the third year.

But is my first clock is several years with surface mount electronics, so it is harder for me to guess.

How long will I offer repair services?

I am still repairing the clocks I sold in 1971, but who really knows.

To order:

PayPal order button on home page. Most customers just call me, Barry, at 1-800-328-1895 or 707-795-1895.

Time^Cubed

Time^Cubed on my desk. it's the version with case and shown in Dark Mode at 11:24.

No case version

It has a nice tilt back of 7^O –––– Face Segments protrude 1/8" adding a 3 dimensionality look to the cube

The process & persistence that realizes dreams.

Barry Gamble – The Playful Horologist