Watch The Honeycomb Clock Gently Track Time

We love clocks here at Hackaday, and so does [John Whittington]. Last year he created this hexagonal honey clock (or “Honock”) by combining some RGB LEDs with a laser-cut frame to create a smooth time display that uses color and placement to display time with a simple and attractive system.

The outer ring of twelve hexagons is essentially the hour hand, similar to analog clock faces: twelve is up, three is directly to the right, six is straight down, and nine is to the left. The inner ring represents ten minutes per hex. Each time the inner ring fills, the next hex (hour) on the outer ring lights up. The whole display is flooded with a minute-long rainbow at noon and midnight. Watch it in action in the video, embedded below.

[John] also posted an imgur gallery for the Honock, with some good shots of the assembly. Unusual clocks are great ways to show off creativity within broad and simple functional constraints; take for example this robotic clock thats draws out the time on demand.

19 thoughts on “Watch The Honeycomb Clock Gently Track Time

  1. Each to their own, and some changes could be made for preference.
    Having many exterior cells lit feels like an analog clock with a hand pointing to every hour and each hour is one, and we must count them, rather than just glance at a single position, lit. If all were lit dimly, for display purposes, and the hour lit brightly I could “see it.” A number could be added to the surface to help teach young-uns the positions for an analog clock. And it could be set dimmer for night. Not 100% that he did not borrow parts of the hex design from past vintages, analog even. No complaints tho’ – nice work. Done? Maybe… ????

  2. I would put the minutes as the outer ring. This only provides six LEDs for hours, but for odd-numbered hours, just light up two LEDs; it should still b pretty readable.

    1. I sort of age with you. It sounds like “commercial product a day”. However I’m sure most HaD reader will have no problem taking inspiration from the design, tweaking it for personal preference and building their own using their favourite microcontroller and addressable LEDs.

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