Furneaux figures
Mark Furneaux disassembled the Lumitime clock, manufactured by the Japanese company Tamura, and examined the mechanism inside. From the outside, the device looks like a sleek digital clock with a prominent 7-segment display illuminated by red neon lights, but it contains no digital electronics. Instead of counters, a real-time clock module, or transistor-based logic circuits, the clock uses a motor, gears, metal plates, and sliding contact tips.
A spectacle with digits
The gear assembly turned by the motor moves the plates at the right time, allowing the contact points to switch different neon segments on and off in sequence. In this way, rather than playing notes like a piano, the mechanism activates the segments that form the correct digits. The design stands out as an unusual way to make a digital-looking clock at a time when digital electronics were expensive.