Strange Clocks

Berlin Clock

The time in glowing lamps

How to read it

  1. First row under the round lamp: each red lamp counts 5 hours.

  2. Second row: each red lamp counts 1 hour.

  3. Third row: each lamp counts 5 minutes; the red ones mark the quarter hours.

  4. Bottom row: each yellow lamp counts 1 minute. The round lamp on top blinks with the seconds.

The story

Designed by Dieter Binninger and installed in West Berlin in 1975, the Mengenlehreuhr ('set theory clock') was the world's first public clock to tell time with groups of glowing lamps. The original still runs today near Budapester Strasse in Berlin.

Year
1975
Place
Berlin, Germany
Creator
Dieter Binninger

Fun fact

Dieter Binninger also developed an extra-long-life light bulb — partly so the clock's lamps wouldn't keep burning out.

Learn to read time again.

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