This particular clock uses a VFD (vacuum flourescent display) like you might find on an older alarm clock or calculator, but instead of displaying boring old digits, this one tells time with an analog-style 34mm (1.33″) round clock face. This complete clock is created by the guys at Kosbo.com, and comes in a clear acrylic case that lets you see the entire circuit, both front and back.

It’s also got dual alarms built-in, and 8 adjustable brightness levels so it should work nicely as a bedside clock. They’ve even gone the extra mile to include an integrated backup battery, in case the power goes out. The clock is based on this circuit board, which can also be procured separately in case you want to make your own round-face VFD clock.

One example they posted was this cool mod somebody did, replacing the analog clock in their Mini Cooper:

Not too shabby, eh? I could see this looking good in many cars if you have the guts to rip apart your vehicle and install one. If you’re like me, you’re more likely to just pick up the fully assembled clock, which you can find over on eBay for £64.95 (~$104 USD). Keep in mind that they don’t include the 12VDC AC adapter that you’ll need to power it, but those are cheap and easy to find.

According to the guys at SparkBotttle, The Tock (or is that “toke”?) clock always tells the “correct” time. Of course you’ll never know what time it really is with the Tock clock, but if you get stoned enough to buy this thing, you probably don’t care anyhow.

There’s also a handy bonus feature for all you potheads out there – flip the switch on back and the whole thing lights up with a bunch of colorful flashing lights to keep you mesmerized while you wait for the pizza delivery guy to show up. Whoa.

If you manage to remember what I was just talking about, you can get the 4:20 clock over at Etsy for $119.50 (USD).

Peter Hand’s IV-17 Four Letter Word Generator kit comes pre-loaded with a dictionary of 5,400 words (there are some acronyms, and proper nouns in there too). Actually, I lied. It does more than one thing. It can also tell the time – but that’s not nearly as much fun as the seemingly endless list of words like BITS, LOFT, LAVA, and MAPS which rotate on the four Russian IV-17 VFD tubes.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

And if you’re wondering if it knows profanities, indeed it does. But there is a setting which lets you disable or enable an NSFW filter (I wonder if “NSFW” is one of the words on the list).

You can get your hands on a pre-assembled version of the kit for $120 (USD), and details on how to order one should be available over at WongAttitude “real soon now.”

[via Tube Clock DB (thanks for the tip, Brian!)]

Jason put together this clock in about 4 months. He built it around a retro Russian IV-18 Nixie tube. As inspiration, he cites Adafruit’s Ice Tube Clock, but didn’t like its acrylic enclosure. He decided to improve upon it and credits John Pfeiffer for the design of the enclosure.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The enclosure itself is great. It reminds me of some Apple computers, because of the perforated metal grills that are used in it.

I think that this clock simply look amazing. I’d love to have one in my bedroom or near my workstation.

[via Make]

The Ice Tube clock ($70 USD) gets its brilliant blue display thanks to an old-school Russian-issued VFD (vacuum fluorescent display) tube. It’s set inside of a spiffy clear acrylic shell, which lets you see its internal circuitry whenever you want. Each tube has 8 glowy blue digits, as well as a dot indicator for PM and an alarm on/off indicator.

While the Ice Cube kit includes everything you need to build a standard alarm clock with day/date functionality, both hardware and software are open source, so you can mod this to do something else if you want – say display text messages or run the time backwards.

Keep in mind that the circuit generates very high voltages (up to 70 VDC), so you’ll need significant electronics, soldering and kit-building experience if you want one of these sitting on your bookshelf (and not catching your house on fire). If you’re up to the build challenge, head on over to Adafruit and place your order.

[via LadyAda]

What we actually have here is a very rare Russian relic from the early 1980s. The Elektronika-7 (Электроника-7) clock was built using vacuum tubes, not LEDs to drive its unique bluish-green display.

The old industrial clock uses 16 segmented tubular vacuum fluorescent displays (VFDs) to form its digits.

This extreme rarity can be yours if you manage to score the winning bid in the next few hours (currently at $150 plus shipping). Check out the auction over on eBay for more details.