Meet our newest creation. Klapklok is a mechanical pixel clock with 69 elements. It’s size is 450 x 450 x 13 mm, and it diplays a whopping half a pixel per inch! Lightweight paper-like flaps switch from black to white, acting as pixels. Every 2,5 minutes, the hands on the clock are redrawn. In between, Klapklok is completely inert. It doesn’t emit light, it’s silent and it doesn’t use energy.

Klapklok’s flaps move every 2,5 minutes with a soft, gentle whisper. Every hour, all 69 flaps briefly change at once to display the time as numbers. Moving all flaps together creates a peaceful, calming rustle. Like the sound of 69 butterflies. Klapklok is the gentlest cuckoo clock you’ve ever heard!

Klapklok might look very simple, but beneath the surface is an advanced array of spools, magnets and electronics. The lightweight flaps move in a controlled motion to withstand interference. Movement is layered to minimize energy.

Klapklok is a clock, first and foremost. Like most clocks, you can set the hours and minutes with four buttons at the bottom. To streamline development, we put a Bluetooth chip in the prototypes, and wrote a small app. This turned out to be so convenient that it’s in every Klapklok now. Apart from setting the time, you can do much more with the app. Even make your own 69 pixel drawings!

Like our Wheels, the Klapklok is designed and built in our lab in Schagen, Noord-Holland. The base structure is milled out of high performance bio polyurethane. We carefully make a warp free sandwich with a fiber sheet contaning the electronics. All 69 mechanisms and flaps are meticulously fitted and aligned by hand.