Nostalgia permeates throughout any room with a turntable or analog clock. But nowadays, any song from any artist can be played with the touch of a button. Hardly anyone who owns an analog clock looks at it before looking at their iPhone. Turntables and wall clocks seem to be technologies of the past, but still, we savor the crackly, crisp sound that comes from spinning records and we adorn our walls with mounted clocks because they bring us back to a time from our younger years. While all of this is true, turntables and analog clocks are a type of technological hardware that is just as reliably functional as it is sentimental. Joonho Sung designed the Vinyl Clock in order to bridge the constant functionality of a clock with the retro sound and lure of a turntable.

When turntables aren’t in use, they have a tendency to just take up space. They have no purpose other than to play music, so by turning it into a dual-functioning house product, the machine operates on a round-the-clock basis, pun intended. The final product is a stand-up record player whose cartridge doubles as a second-hand for its other purpose of telling and keeping track of time. By incorporating a removable axial cap, the design’s clock can be deconstructed in order to transform into a turntable. Once you select the record you’d like to play, it’s easy to reconstruct the clock back to its practical display. Manually-automated control dials for both volume and time are positioned just above the Vinyl Clock’s speaker for easy, fine-tuning. Through a simple transference of duties, the product’s epitomic function is to play your favorite records, using the clock’s second hand as a cartridge, while also providing you with the time of day – no longer will your turntable not be in use.

Just like the time, music is always around us, and with the popularity of turntables only increasing, a music player, that doubles as a multi-functioning design piece, makes for the perfect marriage of yesteryear’s appreciation for music with today’s innovative design energy. Joonho Sung created the Vinyl Clock in order to remind users of how precious parlor music once was, while also acknowledging the expectations of today’s vinyl listeners. The Vinyl Clock bridges value and manual labor with innovation and contemporary design so that the records can keep on spinning.

Designer: Joonho Sung