I want this clock

[biosc1]

From Wired (http://www.wired.com/culture/design/magazine/17-02/st_chronophage):

Ravenous Clock Runs Backward, Scares Children

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/481/stchronophagefei7.jpg

At first glance, it doesn't look like a clock. There's the giant fanged insect on top. And instead of hands, it uses glowing blue LEDs to tell the time. Called the Corpus Clock—it's installed at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge, England—the timepiece was designed by John Taylor, an alumnus, clock collector, and lifelong inventor who wanted to blend 18th-century tech with a hypermodern aesthetic. The bug is called a Chronophage, or time-eater, and it's actually a scarier version of the grasshopper escapement, a 1720s breakthrough that transformed clock making.

The video is definitely worth watching in the link.

Direct link to video:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1815813330/bctid7043575001

[LongStepMantis]

Holy shit that's awesome.

It took me a minute to notice that the grasshopper actually walks across the top instead of simply sliding...snapping it's hellish jaws.

I'm tempted to visit Cambridge and pull a Carmen Sandiego.

[Bingley Joe]

That's awesome, except for the stupidly garish blue lights (although the mechanism driving them is still unbelievably cool).

[Re3x]

i would like that on a small scale without the gold and hellish grasshopper.

[evilgoodwin]

Did you notice the grasshopper blinking? Holy lord!

[Stmfuller]

that is pretty cool.

[Narradisall]

Shiny, might have to go see this when I'm next up town.

[Ancalagon]

I know at least a few people who would run screaming from the room if they saw that.

What powers it? The souls of sinners? Ghosts who wont depart the earth?

[Raen]

I heard about this a while back. The thing is evil! Evil I say! I might have to go up to Cambridge to see if I can sneek a look.

[Borthcollective]

Change the cricket to a Sandworm and I'm in.

[wyeast]

Holy shit, at first I thought it was an electronic clock with some mechanical bits on the outside, but it's quite the reverse. Awesome.

[Bad Buddha]

Wow! It's huge!

That creature could bite your ear off!

So cool!

[Vermillion]

That's pretty bad ass. In the same thought, this is a clock that I've been looking at getting. Reminds me of Fallout 3....

http://www.store.tubeclock.com/images/Clocks/in14milledflatfront3.jpg

http://store.tubeclock.com/index.php/nixie-tube-clocks/clocks#IN14_Brushed_Clock

[Wasson_]

clockwork sorcery!

[Generation ABXY]

To each their own, I guess – I, for one, find it pretty damn ugly in every respect, from the gaudy lights to the silly bug on top...even the gold wouldn’t look so bad, and would perhaps even be fitting for a college, if everything else about it didn’t have such a cheap, novelty look to it.

[BlackPete]

Damn when I saw the photo, I thought that it looked cool, but when I saw the video and saw the thing in motion.... holy shit, if I ran into that in a dark room, I'd probably faint on the spot.

I never knew a grasshopper could look so scary... or that I could be such a pussy.

To each their own, I guess – I, for one, find it pretty damn ugly in every respect, from the gaudy lights to the silly bug on top...even the gold wouldn’t look so bad, and would perhaps even be fitting for a college, if everything else about it didn’t have such a cheap, novelty look to it.

The bug itself looked anything but cheap.

[MalReynolds]

Best clock ever ... -steals- :P

[Wedge]

I misread the thread title.

[Lithium Flower]

I didn't find it scary but its definitely very cool!

[pomeroy]

I misread the thread title.

Perv.

2short.

[DarkDay]

Thats a stunning piece of art.

[LongStepMantis]

I was noticing that it sometimes seemed to miss a beat, but according to the wiki for the clock, it's intentional.

The clock is entirely accurate only once every five minutes. The rest of the time, the pendulum may seem to catch or stop, and the lights may lag or, then, race to get ahead. According to Taylor, this erratic motion reflects life's "irregularity".

Bonus coolness for the fact it still keeps accurate time, but inaccurately.
It's like some lovecraftian machination.

[ClannerDelta]

I misread the thread title.

I'm glad I'm not the only one.

I think it looks great. I wouldn't want one in my room though.

[LongStepMantis]

I'm glad I'm not the only one.

I think it looks great. I wouldn't want one in my room though.

The snooze button is in its mouth. ;)

[5y1v4r]

ye gods that's amazing. I love the way the grasshopper crawls across the top and the fact that the faceplate was designed through "controlled explosions"
also, chronophage is an awesome name for it.

[LongStepMantis]

also, chronophage is an awesome name for it.

I'm wondering why we haven't seen demonic grasshoppers that eat time in more entertainment mediums. We really should.

[5y1v4r]

I'm wondering why we haven't seen demonic grasshoppers that eat time in more entertainment mediums. We really should.

I agree,,demonic grasshoppers should be the next big thing, they've got a hella lot of creepiness going for them as is, if you look at them up close. Spiders get all the creepy insect love...

[BlackPete]

If there was a fucking swarm of those creepy chronophages in any movie I watch or game I play, then I doubt I'll be able to sleep for the rest of my life.

EDIT: Couldn't resist.... that thing is just UGLY.

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/8836/chronophagexz1.jpg

[biosc1]

I particularly enjoy the part of the video where it shows the comparison to the "Grasshopper Escapement" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grasshopper_escapement)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Grasshopper-escapement-005.gif

[MalReynolds]

so who wants to go to england ?