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The Etch is a Morphing Digital Clock Sculpture

The Etch Clock is unlike any Swiss clock we’ve ever seen, a tabletop or wall-mountable digital clock designed to mimic an “etched in stone” effect using an elastic membrane with an undisclosed patent pending technology engineered to produce an engraved or embossed fonts/digits effect on demand.

The 24-second teaser video shows an almost unconvincing, CGI-like effect while in use, but the designers at 42foundry claim they’ve effectively figured out how to turn a non-display surface into the semblance of a digital clock, likely utilizing micro-pumps to suck or push out air to create a vacuum in the form of numerals or letters. No detail whether the display is limited to the center of the 40 x 40 cm coated aluminium frame, or whether the Etch is capable of display across its “dark Peacock” display face beyond four numerals.

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Like nearly every product today, the Etch Clock has an accompanying app, one designed to let users pick from two display modes: “Sync & Go” displays time automatically every 30 seconds; “Sync & Sensor” displays time every 30 seconds, but only in the presence of sound picked up by an internal sensor.

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We can imagine this being further developed beyond a single clock and combined into “tiles” (imagine this type of technology incorporated into showers for a waterproof tile wall display). But considering a single Etch Clock will set you back $1,300, this remains a cool conversation piece for a demographic more concerned with time than money.

Gregory Han is a Senior Editor at Design Milk. A Los Angeles native with a profound love and curiosity for design, hiking, tide pools, and road trips, a selection of his adventures and musings can be found at gregoryhan.com.