Some people prefer to learn the time on a vintage grandfather clock that resonates through a tile corridor. Others like the chime of their rare tabletop Philippe Patek. Then, of course, there’s the old standby of the wall clock. No matter what our time-telling preference, we do not expect to exact significant effort to see that it’s 4:20. These designed watches, however, make complications on a true watch-o-philes’s wrist seem. They certainly reveal a preference among designers to eschew the relationship between form and function. They are about as easy to read as a 19th century marine chronometer. Beauty has its place in clocks, but who wants to read an instruction manual or watch a Youtube video about how to read a clock?

We could describe it as minimalism in chronometers.

Color wheels not only give the time but also an aesthetic means of diversion. Is it synesthesia if you start thinking of numbers in terms of colors?

Clock developed by Anna Marinenko as a tribute to Japan.

Time in this clock reveals itself as gracefully and beautifully as a Chinese coquette behind her fan.

One should wonder about a clock’s effectiveness– or at least about the designer’s sense of relationship between form and function– if it comes with instructive photos.

Telling time inherently requires a bit of mathematical knowledge. In this case, however, it might take thrice as long to determine the hour if reading the scroll-like domino structure. It might therefore be akin to reading Japanese scrolls.

This will clock turns 24-hour military time into something whimsical and artful. Its dimensionalism further adds to its attractive design.

The subtlety of this clock adds to its appeal. Whose eyes would linger on the magnification of the numbers as time passes?

This retro watch still bears something that’s a little flash forward. its gentle gradation of color delights the eye as the minimal indicators of time intrigue the mind.

Perhaps it’s easier to admit the passage of time if a clock bears what appears to be metal lace over its face.