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Well, "clocks", not "watches". But the point is, if you are a watch person, this is your alarm clock.

You will be surprised to find out how many spam emails you have received as an editor. These emails appear in the form of public relations agencies, and these emails are not related to your vertical industry. I mean, I know that some CRMs will mechanically and automatically append my name to emails, and irrational public relations staff will take the initiative to think that I, the "gatekeeper", are just desperate to review new vacuum cleaners and dogs. Collars or spermicidal gel, but, unfortunately, I only account for 0% of these scenes.

However, I did receive a tone slightly to the left recently, which stopped me-it was for the alarm clock. Now, I haven’t used an alarm clock since high school — my phone is too convenient and too portable — but I like the idea of ​​analog and well-designed things that gently drew me from editing Woke up from sleep, but tasteful, and does not have the arrogant ZINGGGGGGGGG that always appears in the 1940s movies in the foley part. During the Cold War, Dieter Rams sat on a marble toilet and drew something on a piece of graph paper. you know what I mean.

It’s called OneClock—God only knows why there are multiple—its designer (or overworked copywriter) described it as "a minimalist analog clock with science-based sober music, Designed for incoherent bedrooms." Now, I don’t have time to study science, and my bedroom is definitely not disconnected-I’m pretty sure if Mossad wants to know what’s going on here, they can simply flip a switch And download everything, given all the electronics in my apartment-but again, I like the idea, the analog philosophy.

Then, I saw that OneClock’s music was composed by Grammy Award-winning multi-instrumentalist Jon Natchez. Jon plays Barry Saxophone...I play Barry Saxophone. (Since a kid pulled me to a meeting in Berkeley and they needed a guy to control the low end of the "Chameleon" period, I haven't touched one, but that's another day's story.) TL;DR— —I decided this is my alarm clock. I have to try it. It is talking about my philosophy.

OneClock comes in three colors (white, black or red)-black appears at my door. The dials of all three versions of the clock are the same (black), and the front of the clock is cut from a piece of oak. This is a handsome object that looks like Braun, but if I am picky-I will be picky because I am in the mood now-I would say Oneclock needs to be more careful with oak panels: Someone cuts these things by hand with a hole saw. Okay, but you have to sand the edges, otherwise you risk shipping products that look like high school Arduino experiments. (I was almost stabbed!)

Aside from that quibble, the build quality seems to be great-powder-coated aluminum plates, knurled knobs, glass covers on analog clocks, and bright plastic clock hands reminiscent of a classic mid-century design. It comes with a USB-C cable (which will allow you to download new music to the clock in the future) and a wall plug, and has three rotary controls (two on the back and one on the front), some of which have push and pull functions.

Due to the versatility of these controls, you really need to scan the QR code inside the box and watch the instructional video to set the clock correctly. It's a bit silly to do this: I press and hold a button as instructed, and the clock adjusts itself to the correct time-the hands just jump. How does it know? ! (No, actually, how does it know the correct time?) Unlike many other analog alarm clock designs, where you pull out the knob and slowly rotate to set the hands, the hands on the Oneclock are motorized and start pulling around Clock face-you turn the knob to slow them down, and then set the knob back to its center position to complete the time setting. It takes some time to get used to it, but once you master it, it will be very cool.

The speaker knob on the back sets the volume of the alarm music, so there is nothing complicated. The working mode of the front alarm setting button is similar to that of the time setting button-when you short press, the clock hands will jump to the alarm time you set. Turn the setting button to set the alarm, after which the hands will return the clock to the current time. Nito! (Press and hold this button for one second to confirm your wake-up time, and press and release at the same time to turn the alarm on and off. The small light on the clock dial confirms this state.)

There is an accelerometer in the clock housing. If you quickly click on it above the clock dial, the dim night light will be on for five seconds. Finally, if you turn the "wake up" (alarm setting) knob on the front panel all the way to the left, and then hold it down for one second, a voice will speak to you through the clock and guide you how to choose different music as your alarm. (crazy!)

The entire packaging is definitely "retro-futuristic". (Forgive the cliché, but I don’t know how to describe it.) At the same time it has a medieval style and the most forward-looking Oneclock, if it is not streamlined/simplified/disconnected, it will be nothing-your phone has no USB charging, no Digital reading, nothing. This is just an alarm clock, where the actual ringtone is designed to wake you up from sleep gradually and happily.

The volume of these bells will gradually increase within 30 seconds, so that you don’t feel like you were hit by a ball head hammer at 5:30 in the morning. The work also has intensity, mixing simulation with electronic musical instruments, and adopts a sound range that usually contains human speech patterns. The result is absolutely pleasant, but it is indeed somewhat dreamy and Wes Andersonian. (I’m kind of like an angel pulling their espresso into this type of music.)

I have to say, I really like Oneclock-it beats the 80s alarm clocks that I used when I was growing up, and the modern black Sony alarm clocks, it was difficult to set up and had a lot of buttons on it. I finally got rid of it. This is where you get out of your dreams happily, without (literally) fanfare, once you have mastered the multiple functions of some knobs, it is relatively easy to control.

In addition to the front board that feels cheap, one of my wishes is: I understand the streamlined design with a single USB C port for power supply and downloading new ringtones, but I prefer the clock to have a USB A port for charging the phone-no matter this Do you need an internal transformer for a traditional power supply-and a USB C port for downloading. (I don’t know how the power supply works. I remember I got the impression of C in my university electronics 101 class. But basically: I want a mobile phone charging port.)

You see, I understand that the whole point of Oneclock is to separate from your phone-love it. But it's 2021, and I have to charge my phone at the bedside anyway. I don't want the 18 wires to pass through the wall next to the bed, so I like this design, such as a light with a discreet USB port. Therefore, my first request from the Oneclock team was to allow me to charge my phone through the back of the clock-there is already a USB-C port there-so we are not blasphemy.

My other request was to choose a white clock dial on the white case model-in my opinion, this is a cleaner and more pleasing appearance. It would be great if you can set how long the night light stays on (for example, 5 seconds, 10 seconds, or 15 seconds). In my opinion, are you willing to get up and actually accomplish something. Five seconds is really only enough to make you realize that your clock is glowing.

So I would buy a Oneclock for myself or someone else and insist that that person "return to nature" to some extent-or at least, return to simulation? I think I will. It must be for a specific type of person-the type that will not bother to lose modern conveniences, such as digital control, phone charging, etc. But innovative design, calm music and thoughtful touch are enough to make this possible. One of my favorite alarm clock designs. My friends, that is a sentence I think I will never say when I am an adult, let alone publish it.