The Alessi Cronotime Desk Clock is a re-issue of a plastic design icon. It defines the modernist space age aesthetic of the mid-20th century. It would still look good on the Starship Enterprise.
The Cronotime has a tubular two part shape which swivels for different viewing angles. Its simple aesthetic means it just tells the time (no alarm). It has a no-screws assembly, and is battery operated (supplied).
Our clock was designed by Italian Pio Manzu. He was responsible for the best selling Fiat 127, the European Car of the Year in 1972. Manzu designed the original Cronotime Desk Clock in 1966 as a gift for Fiat clients. Three years later he died in a motor accident, aged thirty.
Pio Manzu was one of Europe's leading avante-garde intellectuals of his time. Aside from designing environmentally sensible cars, he was active in debate on issues of environment, technology, and the distribution of wealth. After his death his friends founded the United Nations Pio Manzu International Research Centre in his honour.
His birth city of Bergamo titled a recent retrospective of Manzu's work "When The World Was Modern". His little clock is a magnificent representative of that world.
· Permanent Collection, Museum of Modern Art, New York City
Dimensions : 7cm x 8.5cm
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