This is Rail Clock, 'the first national clock designed for Britain's railways in over 50 years, inspired by the iconic Double Arrow'.
The red arrows travel around the rim every 60 seconds, with the new minute ticking over when they cross at the top. The clock was designed by brand design agency Design Bridge and Partners who won a global competition organised by Network Rail, the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Design Museum. It's 1.8m in diameter and was installed this week above the concourse at London Bridge station. It looks mighty fine.
The plan is to roll out Rail Clock across the country, generally on existing screens, say in the corner of the departures board. Such are the advantages of a simple digital design. If I read the pressrelease correctly there'll also be wall clocks and sticky-out-discs with clocks on, but so far London Bridge is the sole confirmed example of a physical clock. The digits are really clear to read, being in the typeface Rail Alphabet 2, whose designer Margaret Calvert was one of the competition's judges. [screensaver]
Meeting under the clock at London Bridge might now become a thing, just as it is at Waterloo. If you do stand underneath you'll find a disc with the double arrow at the centre and 24 rail-related phrases around the edge. These range from the half-decent (Friends reuniting) to the peculiar (Cans warming) to the contrived (Earlybirds tapping) to the weird (Thoughts tocking) to the plain odd (Glimpses glancing) to the cringeworthy (History mingling) to the ill-advised (Headphones blaring). Thankfully the disc is a vinyl sticker so can be removed one day when the branding team see sense.
For the first two days there was also a pop-up shop on the concourse, this time outside the gateline, selling Rail-Clock-related merchandise. The stock list included a hoodie for £45, "shoudler bag" for £40, t-shirt for £20, water bottle for £20 and socks for £15. I can't believe they sold much product given limited publicity, inadequate signage and distance from the actual clock. However all the unsold stock will be available in the Design Museum's shop, this presumably why they got involved, should you want to wear a timepiece that's permanently stuck on 20:25. The clock is lovely though, and hopefully we'll all be seeing it on rail journeys soon.
