Retrofuturistic Nixie Tube clocks by Peter Jensen
The nixie tube is one of the oldest and retro-futuristic of digital display technologies: a glass tube (similar in appearance to a vacuum tube) containing a wire-mesh anode and multiple cathodes that, when powered, become glowing orange numbers. Artist Peter Jensen buys up old, space-race Soviet era Nixie-tubes and turns them into fantastically retro-futuristic digital clocks. A four digit Nixie Tube clock kit will cost you $135, or only $99 if you don't mind tearing apart crazy ol' grampa's non-functioning time machine for the stray parts, but you can go up to a six-digit aluminum model for $495. Gorgeous. These look like they were just removed from the dash panel of Flash Gordon's 1950s-era rocket ship. I want one.
TubeClock [Official Site via Retro-Thing]
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As a kid taking my first computer classes (early seventies,writing programs, punching out cards to be fed to an IBM System 360), there were these Wang calculators in the computer lab that used these tubes for readout. I always loved the way the look.
But mostly, I just like to say the word nixie.
nixie, nixie, nixie, nixie, nixie....
Gorgeous. Mother's Day would be so easy if my mom liked gadgets :(
I have never before felt so compelled to own an arty gadget thing in my life.
I saw an old electric scale that used nixi tubes in Lviv, Ukraine, about a month ago. They look awesome.
Jensen is local to me. I've chatted with him by email and have scrutinized the instructions of his kits in detail. He and they are the real thing. The clock is well designed as well as looking great. I've also investigated a number of other makers of Nixie clocks and Mr. Jensen's prices are very reasonable for what you get.
Jensen is local to me. I've chatted with him by email and have scrutinized the instructions of his kits in detail. He and they are the real thing. The clock is well designed as well as looking great. I've also investigated a number of other makers of Nixie clocks and Mr. Jensen's prices are very reasonable for what you get.
@Jake, I had one of those nixie calculators; I loved to watch the numbers dance back and forth as you did calculations. I ended up selling it on eBay in one of my "eliminate clutter" phases. Sigh...
I have an old Fluke bench voltmeter that I love despite its size and finickyness. Nothing is more visible amid a tangle of wires than those bright orange digits.
Somebody needs to Steampunk one of these right away.
Pretty. I want one. I'll never have one, but it'd still be -cool-. And really, $135 for a clock is not extraordinarily insane. Better than that steel cube a few posts back- and this glows!