Data Time World Clock

This is a very neat and early 12-hour digital clock with 4 nixie tubes made by Data Time, Inc. based in Beaverton, Oregon. Integrated circuits were not widely adopted in clocks until the mid to late 1970s, so this clock is entirely electromechanical with rotary switches for each digit and uses a 1 RPM "Synchron" motor to advance the switches to keep time. A rotary switch on the front panel to the right of the map selects the time zone and updates the hours display accordingly.

There is scant information online about Data Time, Inc. and I do not know how they advertised or sold their clocks. My example is serial number 24 and was located in Beaverton where it was made before it was shipped to me after my purchase on Ebay. Data Time is believed to have produced clocks in limited low-volume runs and aimed towards high-end customers. Data Time sold several other models in the early 1970s including Gemini, Jupiter, Libra, Orion, Pegasus, and Venus. The Venus is known to be an electromechanical design similar to this World Clock and it is very likely all the other models were similarly electromechanical designs. The Venus originally cost $150 or over $1000 in 2024 dollars hence the low volume, and today any clock made by Data Time are fairly hard to come across.