The analog alarm clocks of yore were decidedly simple. Their wind-up hands, unchanging faces, and twin bells didn’t leave a whole lot of room for fine-tuning. But there’s appeal in their classic, circular aesthetic, and a sort of novelty in seeing it adapted to higher-tech forms. Enter Canadian company Electrohome’s Retro Clock Radio, a bedside clock that retains the vintage design of alarm clocks past but packs a litany of digital conveniences.
There’s no mistaking the Retro Clock Radio for a mechanical clock: a light-up digital display dominates its front, media and power controls inhabit the bezel, and twin LED bulbs stand in for bells. But those inauthenticities enable all sorts of customizations that analog clock users could only dream of (pun intended). The LED lights can be programmed to slowly brighten in the morning with or without an accompanying buzzer or music. A motion sensor quickly switches on the bulbs or snoozes sounding alarms, so you can wave your hand over the clock and fall back to sleep for a few more blissful minutes. And the AM/FM radio lets you save up to 20 stations.
The Retro Clock Radio’s got a few more tricks up its sleeve, among them dimming options, a temperature and calendar display, a dual alarm setting, and nap timers, but Electrohome touts its reliability above all. The clock automatically makes Daylight Saving Time adjustments, the company says, and sports WakeUp, a feature that works in conjunction with the clock’s backup battery to keep alarms active through power surges.
But who, you might reasonably ask, uses dedicated alarm clocks in this age of smartphones? “Those sensitive to loud sounds or who have trouble waking up,” Electrohome says. If those descriptions sound familiar — or if you, like me, have become completely desensitized to your phone’s alarms at every volume — the Retro Clock Radio might be worth a serious look.
It’s available for $35 at Electrohome’s web store.
