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I have something of a sleep problem. Or I guess, more accurately, a waking up problem. And my alarm clock died. So I bought this re-issue of Braun’s Dietrich Labs and Dieter Rams-designed BNC004 travel alarm clock. You should not.
A reissue of a classic Braun travel alarm clock, by design demigod Dieter Rams.
People who need to wake up to simple, well-designed alarm clocks before they face all the ugly out there in the rest of the world.
Uhhh, that’s why you bought it, right?
So simple. A dial in the back sets the alarm, in 12-hour intervals. Smashing the top button turns it off. Or you can yell at it, but you need to scream like a banshee or practically swallow the clock for the voice-activated snooze to work. No other features or frills to speak of.
Looking at it. And the steady, subtle ticking, unless that kind of thing drives you insane.
Genius German industrial design ruined by horribly cheap Chinese manufacturing.
It’s really tiny! And feels really cheap. Which is weird, because it looks—even as you’re about to pull it out of the box—like it’s constructed as well as it’s designed. And it’s not.
The shrill, piercing alarm successfully roused me from slumber two days in a row. Runs off a single double A battery.
No, unless you like being sad.
Braun BNC004
Price: ~£25
Gizrank: 2
I bought this, and apart from the cheap design, which I was a little shocked at when I opened it, it’s a really good alarm clock. It never fails to wake me up, and I never really bought it for the voice feature, though it is something I’ve used and it seems to work okay (I wish it was possible to disable it actually, sticky tape maybe?)
It looks so pretty sitting on my little bedside table
Ok am I missing something? It looks like a washing machine to me!
So it looks good, is simple to use and performs its job perfectly but don’t buy it because it feels cheap. I didn’t realise timepieces were supposed to be fondled on a regular basis…
My neighbour just got an alarm clock that like this one only has a setting with 12 hour intervals. I guess he’s worried he’ll forget to set it every night because:
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP until he silences it at 6am
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP at 6pm until he gets home from work between 7-8pm.
Pretty designs aside, is it too much to ask for smart settings?
Smart settings? I’d be asking for a smarter neighbour.