Nordic Wall Clock – Silent Quartz, Wood and Glass, Brown or Creme

Two sizes are offered, 25 and 30 centimeters square, which on a wall clock is the difference between something read from across a kitchen and something read only from a few feet away. Brown and Creme are the two colorways. Wood makes the case and glass covers the face, a pairing that keeps the object warm at its edges and clean at its center.

A quartz movement works by passing current through a quartz crystal cut to vibrate 32,768 times a second, then dividing that frequency down to a single pulse per second. A silent quartz movement takes the same mechanism and replaces the stepping second hand with a continuous sweep, which removes the tick altogether rather than muffling it. That is why silent movements get specified for bedrooms, where a stepping tick is clearly audible at night.

The glass front matters more day to day than it sounds, since it keeps dust off the hands and the face, and dust is what makes a clock look neglected faster than anything else. It suits a kitchen, a hallway, or a bedroom.

• Case material: Wood
• Face cover: Glass
• Movement: Silent quartz
• Size: 25 x 25 cm or 30 x 30 cm
• Color: Brown or Creme