Like clockwork —

Apple puts money where its mouth is, pays for Swiss railway clock design

But details of the agreement were not made public.

Chris Foresman - Oct 12, 2012 4:15 pm UTC

The iPad's new Clock app uses the same sweeping red second hand as SBB's iconic railway clocks.

Apple has officially reached a licensing agreement with Swiss Federal Railway (Schweizerische Bundesbahnen, or SBB) to continue to use the design of its iconic station clocks for the iPad's Clock app. How much Apple is paying to use the design is unknown, however, as both parties have agreed to keep the terms of the deal private.

Apple's designers apparently liked the iconic Swiss railway clock so much—with its sweeping red second hand that looks like a railway signal flag—that it essentially copied the design for the iPad's new Clock app, introduced in iOS 6. However, SBB noted shortly after the release of iOS 6 in September that the clock design, an icon of SBB and Switzerland itself, was copyrighted and trademarked.

An SBB spokesperson said that the iPad Clock app was "an unauthorized use [of the clock's design] by Apple," and that it was contacting Apple to work out a "legal and financial" resolution to the issue. The SBB later clarified that it was "rather proud that a brand as important as Apple is using our design," and that it wasn't necessarily demanding money for use of the design. It's worth noting that SBB does license the clock's design around the world, perhaps most famously to watchmaker Mondaine, so we suspect Apple did in fact pay for use of the design.

The SBB railway clock was originally designed in 1944 by engineer and designer Hans Hilfike. SBB said in a statement that the design has become "a symbol of innovation and reliability," qualities it believes are shared by both SBB and Switzerland.

Promoted Comments

mlowrySmack-Fu Master, in training
jump to post

ProfessorGuy wrote:
The Hilfike is an iconic design and well known in horological circles. However, the clock image posted here is not a good representation of this--or any--mechanical clock. The image shows 10:13:56 and yet the minute hand is on the 13. THAT'S NOT HOW CLOCKS WORK.

That *is* how Swiss railway clocks work. When the second hand reaches the 12 o’clock position, the minute hand moves all at once from one minute to the next.

In fact, Swiss railway clocks have an added complication that Apple’s new Clock app for iPad does not copy. On Swiss railway clocks, when the second hand reaches 12 o’clock, it pauses there for a second, after which the minute hand moves, and the second hand resumes its sweep around the clock face. The inclusion of this slight delay at the end/beginning of each minute means that for most of the minute, the second hand is actually moving a tiny bit more quickly than 6 degrees per second.
Last edited by mlowry on October 12th, 2012, 8:44 am

22 posts | registered Sep 8, 2003
binaryspiralSmack-Fu Master, in training
jump to post

The fact that Apple copied not only the face and hand design of the clock, they also mimicked the mechanical function is pretty cool...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_railway_clock

The clock owes its technology to the particular requirements of operating a railway. First, railway timetables do not list seconds; trains always leave the station on the full minute. Secondly, all the clocks at a railway station have to run synchronously in order to show reliable time for both passengers and railway personnel anywhere on or around the station.

For the reasons above, the station clocks in Switzerland are synchronized by receiving an electrical impulse from a central master clock at each full minute, advancing the minute hand by one minute. The second hand is driven by an electrical motor independent of the master clock. It requires only about 58.5 seconds to circle the face, then the hand pauses briefly at the top of the clock. It starts a new rotation as soon as it receives the next minute impulse from the master clock.

32 posts | registered Jan 28, 2010

Promoted Comments

mlowrySmack-Fu Master, in training
jump to post

ProfessorGuy wrote:
The Hilfike is an iconic design and well known in horological circles. However, the clock image posted here is not a good representation of this--or any--mechanical clock. The image shows 10:13:56 and yet the minute hand is on the 13. THAT'S NOT HOW CLOCKS WORK.

That *is* how Swiss railway clocks work. When the second hand reaches the 12 o’clock position, the minute hand moves all at once from one minute to the next.

In fact, Swiss railway clocks have an added complication that Apple’s new Clock app for iPad does not copy. On Swiss railway clocks, when the second hand reaches 12 o’clock, it pauses there for a second, after which the minute hand moves, and the second hand resumes its sweep around the clock face. The inclusion of this slight delay at the end/beginning of each minute means that for most of the minute, the second hand is actually moving a tiny bit more quickly than 6 degrees per second.
Last edited by mlowry on October 12th, 2012, 8:44 am

22 posts | registered Sep 8, 2003
binaryspiralSmack-Fu Master, in training
jump to post

The fact that Apple copied not only the face and hand design of the clock, they also mimicked the mechanical function is pretty cool...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_railway_clock

The clock owes its technology to the particular requirements of operating a railway. First, railway timetables do not list seconds; trains always leave the station on the full minute. Secondly, all the clocks at a railway station have to run synchronously in order to show reliable time for both passengers and railway personnel anywhere on or around the station.

For the reasons above, the station clocks in Switzerland are synchronized by receiving an electrical impulse from a central master clock at each full minute, advancing the minute hand by one minute. The second hand is driven by an electrical motor independent of the master clock. It requires only about 58.5 seconds to circle the face, then the hand pauses briefly at the top of the clock. It starts a new rotation as soon as it receives the next minute impulse from the master clock.

32 posts | registered Jan 28, 2010

Chris Foresman Chris is an Associate Writer at Ars Technica, where he has spent the last five years writing about Apple, smartphones, digital photography, and patent litigation, among other topics.

Channel Ars Technica

← Previous story Next story →

Promoted Comments

Promoted Comments

reader comments

Channel Ars Technica