BUhr - Dieter Binninger (Berlin-Uhr)
There are many ways how to display time. One of them can be found in Germany, strictly speaking in Berlin. It is very interesting, not that bizarre but unusual and precise. From 1975 you could find a tall pedestal in Kurfurstendamm, Berlin - Charlottenburg, near Uhlandstreet subway station. On the top there were Dieter Binninger`s flashing lights, known as "Berlin-Uhr" (Berlin Clock).
Dieter Binninger, an open-minded person, was the owner of Videor watchmaker`s at Wedding. Berlin Clock was his most interesting product in wall or table versions and even a wrist version prototype with a black and white LCD display. On June 18, 1975 a seven meter tall clock was installed next to the Uhlandstreet station pedestrian subway and it stayed there to 1996 when it was disassembled because of the high costs - 5 000 euro per year. Fortunately it was not scrapped but sold for a token fee and re-installed near Europa Center.
Dieter Binninger died in an air collision. His widow was not interested in running the company and she sold it. The new owner tried to continue the Berlin Clock production making a table version with an alarm but the product was too expensive and later discontinued. Currently the clock is available again, made to order for 239,- euro. Some instructions how to make this clock can be found in the internet. Yes, and two large models were sold to the U.S.A. (one of them to a big tobacco company).
... and how it works
The clock is based on a set of numbers principle. You must sum up the illuminated areas, each area of the top line represents 5 hours. In the second line each area is illuminated after 1 hour and there are 11 areas - 5 minutes each - in the third line. Every third area represents a quarter-hour and it is red (1/4, 1/2 and 3/4). One area is one minute in the bottom line. The upper flashing circle shows seconds of course - but it flashes every two seconds, not every second (ie. 30 times per minute).
Version list
- 21.11.2006 BUhr Saver v1.2 - Macintosh ScreenSaver (change colours, resize background, optim. code)
- 21.11.2006 BUhr Saver v1.2 - Windows First Public ScreenSaver
- November 2006 BUhr Saver v1.1 - Macintosh First Public ScreenSaver
- July 2006 BUhr Documents - Berlin Uhr (PDF) Documents ("All In One")
- April 2006 BUhr Saver v1.0 - Macintosh "BudMacClub privat edition" ScreenSaver - non public version, only for BudMaClub Users.