Check out this $12,000 hourglass created by one of Apple's designers

midian182

Posts: 9,633   +120
Staff member

If you thought Apple’s $300 physical books were testing the limits of what people are willing to buy, take a look at this. While not from the Cupertino company itself, one of its designers, Marc Newson, has teamed up with wristwatch website Hodinkee to create a $12,000 hourglass.

The hand-blown object is, obviously, a lot nicer than other hourglasses, but would someone really be willing to spend 12 grand on something that looks pretty and measures time? There are plenty of other devices that meet those requirements and don’t cost the same as a second-hand car.

Still, the Marc Newson hourglass does have some pretty cool features. Instead of using sand, it contains 1,249,996 nanoballs that are made from stainless steel. They come with a copper coating and an anti-corrosion layer that will stop them turning green over time like cheap jewelry.

All those balls mean the product, which measures 5.9 inches tall and 4.9 inches across at the widest point, weighs in at 3.3 pounds. Those ball bearings do look quite hypnotic when falling from the top of the glass to the bottom, admittedly, but is it worth rushing out and placing a $6000 non-refundable deposit for one of the hourglasses? I’d say no. If, however, you’re very rich and think it would be the perfect accompaniment to your $300 Apple coffee book then you’d better act fast: only 100 of them have been made.

Apple’s Chief of Design, Jony Ive, said “Ideas are not predictable in terms of when you’ll have them, and how many you’re going to have,” when talking about Apple's book. It seems Hodinkee is a subscriber to the same school of pretentious descriptions. “Watching the Hourglass is a multi-sensory experience that cannot be communicated in words,” it writes. Invariably, the first time we show it to someone, there’s a gasp, a big smile, and sometimes even a little giggle as they lean in and get ready to watch for the full 10 minutes.” At which point they’ll hand over $12,000 for one, naturally.

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At this point I'm happy for those who like it and have/can put 12 large into something like this, I do not like however the typical resentment that comes with this types of topics. There is not much more than that to say.
 
There will be no shortage of buyers for this, things like this. If that is what they like, makes them happy or whatever, go for it! It is their life, their choices, their money, they have the freedom to spend it how they like.
 
Well, I'll say it; a waste of money. Virtually pointless. But hey, a fool and his money are soon parted.

That said, it technically looks/sounds cool. Just not $12,000 cool.
 
Not to worry ... next they will have an "ALARM" version that sits on your night stand, falls on the floor and shatters to wake you up and impales your feet when you stand up just to make sure you're really awake!
 
That's freaking cool and gorgeous... though I wouldn't spend $12k on it... but I'm 100% sure that they will sell a bunch of these in a jiffy!
 
Only Apple is arrogant enough try charge 12 grand for a 12 buck product. The sad thing is some people will cough up. It makes me wonder, with intelligence like that, how the hell do they make that kind of money. If I knew the answer to that question, I would've acted like an idi0t all my life and been stinking rich by now.
 
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Only Apple is audacious enough try charge 12 grand for a 12 buck product. The sad thing is some people will cough up. It makes me wonder, with intelligence like that, how the hell do they make that kind of money. If I knew the answer to that question, I would've acted like an idi0t all my life and been stinking rich by now.
Don't think it's sold by Apple... it's one of their designers in collaboration with Hodinkee.
 
The thing is filled with iron balls! Yet nobody gets the joke....:D

Also, boyz and gurlz, those very same iron balls, are plated with brass.;)
 
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Surely 12 grand could buy a device that displays a hologram that can be configured a million different ways and change at random to display every single possible hour glass imaginable.

Now if it were ten times larger I could see maybe the price being reasonable.
 
They couldn't find another four more balls to make it an even 1,250,000
Well, it might have something to do with calibration. Face it, we have absolutely no idea how much error those extra four balls might cause by the end of the century.

Besides, "1,249,996" just sounds so much more precise, perhaps "magical" even... :rolleyes:
 
I was reading an article about high end audio recently. One of the people interviewed mentioned as his example of wretched excess a client he had who spent $1,000,000.00 on the sound system in his.....bedroom. I don't really want to know what the rest of the system cost. Just don't want to know
 
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