IN THE SHOP: The Mondaine Official Swiss Railways Mini Clock 12.5cm

Zach Blass

Look, I am a New Yorker. Born in the city, living in Manhattan for the majority of my life, I am well-accustomed to daily train rides. The NYC Subway is great for the most part, aside from the occasional “Pizza Rat”, “Showtime dancers”, and a deep cut for any NYC readers “The Earth Angel”. More often than not the Subway gets me where I need to go on-time, but delays do occur with some frequency – I get it, it happens. But when I was in Switzerland for Geneva Watch Days, the fallout of COVID-19 meant I could not fly directly to Geneva. Instead I had to fly to Zurich, and then take an hour’s long train ride into Geneva. The same way I acknowledge that New Haven, Connecticut has better pizza than New York City, I have to give credit where credit is due. The Swiss Railway is unbelievable. When they say a train is coming at a given time, they mean it – like to the second. The schedule is gospel, their reputation on the line if it is not kept. Understandably so, especially when you consider Switzerland is the home of Swiss watchmaking and COSC chronometers. To keep good time means having very legible and accurate clocks throughout the stations, and this is where the Mondaine Official Swiss Railways Mini Clock 12.5cm comes into play.

Since 1986, Mondaine has had the official licence to produce Swiss Railways Clocks designs for consumer purchase. This is the very same design utilized by Swiss Railways since 1944, created by Hans Hilfiker, a Swiss engineer and SBB employee, together with Moser-Baer, a clock manufacturer, for use by the Swiss Federal Railways as a station clock. In 1953, Hilfiker added a red second hand in the shape of the baton used by train dispatch staff – resulting in the aesthetic we are familiar with today. The clock’s red baton second hand notably makes a full rotation every 58.5 seconds, pausing for a second and half and then resuming on the minute as the minutes hand jumps a minute forward.

What we have for you in the shop is a small taste of the Swiss Railway Clock experience, a 12.5cm brushed aluminum cased table or wall clock that boasts luminous hours and minutes hands, the red baton seconds hand, as well as an alarm function (controlled using the fourth grey skeletonized hand). Clear instructions on the back of the clock reveal which direction to rotate the knob when setting the time or setting the alarm, and an on/off switch allows you turn its functionality on/off.

Mondaine Official Swiss Railways Mini Clock 12.5cm pricing and availability:

The Mondaine Official Swiss Railway Mini Clock is available here from the Time+Tide shop for $299 AUD