Wall Clocks

A square clock in a warm brown wooden frame with a cream dial and plain black numerals, which is a dial that still reads correctly in thirty years because there is no styling on it to date. One AA cell drives a quartz movement, so the only part that wears is the one in the shop.

• Solid wooden square frame, 13 inches
• Cream dial, plain black numerals
• Seiko quartz movement
• Runs on one AA cell, included
• Reads from across a room

The dial Braun has been printing since the 1970s: a black face, white hands sized so the hour and the minute cannot be confused, and a yellow second hand that sweeps silently rather than stepping. One AA cell behind a semi-tempered glass lens, and nothing else in it.

• The Braun dial, unchanged for decades
• Silent sweeping second hand, no tick
• Semi-tempered glass lens
• Runs on one AA cell
• 30cm across, reads from a room away

The only clock on this page that never needs setting: it listens for the WWVB time signal out of Fort Collins and corrects itself, including the twice-yearly hour. No display, no app, no account, just a radio receiver behind an ordinary dial.

• Sets itself from the WWVB radio signal
• Handles the daylight saving change on its own
• Matte black frame with a silver bezel, 12 inches
• Runs on cells, no mains power
• No app and no account

An octagonal case cut from solid oak with a gold-tone bezel and a curved glass cover over a plain white dial. Solid wood is the reason it is here: a veneered case lifts at the corners eventually and this one cannot.

• Solid oak case, octagonal, 12 inches
• Curved glass cover over a white dial
• Gold tone bezel
• Seiko quartz movement
• Runs on one AA cell

A two-tone wooden case with a brushed aluminium pendulum swinging in the open below the dial, which is the thing people buy it for. Bulova has been making clocks since 1875, and the movement here runs on two cells with nothing sealed inside it.

• Brushed aluminium pendulum, swinging in the open
• Two-tone wooden case
• Protective convex glass lens
• Stylised Arabic numerals
• Runs on two AA cells

Riki Watanabe drew this dial in the 1950s and Lemnos has been making it in Toyama ever since, which is the same argument the Braun on this page makes. It stands on a shelf or hangs on a wall, and runs on one AA cell.

• Riki Watanabe design, in production since the 1950s
• Made in Toyama, Japan
• Stands on a shelf or hangs on a wall
• Runs on one AA cell
• Oversized numerals, legible across a room

A round brushed metal case, a plain dial and a Seiko quartz movement, at the price most people pay for a clock that will not last. One AA cell, and it comes with the cell in the box.

• Round brushed metal case, 11 inches
• Plain dial, easy-read black numerals
• Seiko quartz movement
• Runs on one AA cell, included
• Reads from across a room

A tone-on-tone metal dial with the numerals sculpted and raised off the face rather than printed on it, under a protective glass lens. The second hand sweeps rather than ticks, which is the reason to pay more than ten dollars for a clock.

• Quiet sweep second hand, no ticking
• Raised sculpted numerals, tone on tone
• Protective glass lens
• Quartz movement, one AA cell
• Bulova, clockmaking since 1875