Mariana Benitez

Guillem Sanchez

Team

Interior Equipment

Project

Year

2021

Clock that projects a light through a hole, thanks to a mechanism anchored to the original, and this is with some stops that are the hours.

Gnomon

Develop an eco-friendly wall clock for Nomon.

Nomon is the leading company in interior clocks. They create avant-garde, contemporary, and visually stunning pieces through handcrafted processes.

Challenge

Eco-friendly wall clock.

For NOMON, eco-friendly/sustainable means maintaining a balance between environmental, social, and economic aspects. A concept that encompasses the protection of nature, the reduction of waste, and the reduction of emissions.

Therefore, the watch should meet the following points:

- Manufactured with environmentally friendly materials.

- Produced by local suppliers.

- The manufacture of the watch should not involve excessive investment ( molds, minimum orders of very many units...).

IMPORTANT TECHNICAL ISSUES

The product must meet a series of points to be manufactured and then marketed.

- The UTS mechanism used is standard (we all provide them).

- The diameter of the watch can go between 20cm and 100cm.

- It must be able to be sent inside a cardboard box, by air to the whole world. That is to say that the box can not make an excessive volume

(the watch can be assembled or disassembled, depending on the model).

OBJECTIVE

NOMON's intention is that the selected project is 100% manufacturable in order to be able to mass-produce it and then add it to the catalog and market it within its collection.

Brief

During prehistoric times, humans began to measure time using the shadows cast by the sun. One example is the Stonehenge stones dating from the 20th century BC. The huge stones found there were placed in specific locations to coincide with the sun on important dates, such as the solstices.

The Egyptians also built huge obelisks that cast their shadows on circular patterns on the ground in such a way as to mark the hours.

This technique of measuring through shadows was perfected by the Romans. This was achieved thanks to the invention of the "nomon", which consisted of a small stick that cast its shadow on a graduated plane. All these systems had the disadvantage that they needed sunlight to function.

Background

Once we have been given the challenge and we have visited the Nomon showroom in Barcelona. We noticed that there were no wall clocks with light, being that the beginnings of the clock as we have investigated; As the sun was advancing from one end of the sky to the other, the shadow cast by the gnomon on the surface describes a circular motion to the right. What today we would say clockwise.

As for the properties that our watch had to meet, it was to follow the line of the materials used by Nomon, being these natural materials, such as walnut, brass, marble as the main ones.

Context

Final prototype

All Projects

Prototype test

During the development of the project, different ideas were developed as part of the design development process. We generated 6 ideas prior to the final idea. Below you will find the concept proposed for the ideas and at the bottom, you will see the whole process we did to reach the final result.

Design process

HOURS OFF

Clock that hides the hours destined for personal rest or any other daily activity. the watch will have a piece that can be adjusted due to a pai pai fan mechanism.

NOMON

This design tries to reproduce a sundial by playing with polarized papers, a play of transparencies.

Play of transparencies that shows the hours depending on the position of the papers.

HOURS ON

The clock projects light through a hole, thanks to a mechanism anchored to the original and this meets with some elements that are the hours.

Clock that projects light through a hole, thanks to a mechanism anchored to the original, and this is with some stops that are the hours.
This clock meets the requirements that we raised at the beginning a clock with light, we have decided to eliminate the hands as we know them and yet the shadow is the hand as it was the beginning of the clocks.