dennis.ca

In October of 2003 I was obsessing over building a nixie tube clock. Proving conclusively that I have a tendency to carefully painfully prolong decisions about frivolous purchases, I have obtained such a device a mere four years later.

Finding well-designed build instructions that weren't an obvious electrocution risk turned out to be more of a challenge than originally thought. Granted, there probably isn't a huge demand for nixie tube clocks these days. Luckily, Google was good enough to uncover Peter Jensen's tubeclock.com -- though it was buried pages-deep in other nixie sites. A variety of kits and pre-built clocks in a number of sizes, styles and finishes are available. I opted for the 6-tube IN-14 clock with brushed aluminum casing. The 6-tube clock with milled aluminum case looks spectacular, but the price was a bit out of my comfort range (I'm still paranoid about buying anything online!)

I'm happy to report that Peter was exceptionally responsive to my initial questions prior to ordering. There were no problems with FedEx shipment to Canada, which always seems to cause problems for me. Additionally, I was happy to see that my credit card payment (via PayPal) was processed with a reasonably current exchange rate, so purchasing in Canadian currency actually worked out nicely. The clock arrived after only a few days and was carefully packaged with instructions and a kind 'thank you' letter from Peter. Nice touch!

The clock itself looks fantastic and is meticulously constructed. Everything is fitted perfectly and it is obvious that the printed circuit board design is a step above a do-it-yourself kit. Extra features like time-based brightness dimming make this clock extremely usable. Plus, you just can't beat that warm analog nixie glow! Watching this thing roll through digits is mesmerizing.

Fawning isn't my strong suit, so I'll cut things short here and refer you to the pictures. Suffice to say that I have absolutely no reservations about recommending tubeclock.com if you're in the market for one of these clocks!