The Cifra 3 is a digital

flip clock A flip clock (also known as a "flap clock") is an electromechanical, Digital clock, digital timekeeping device which displays the time through a split-flap display, where numbers are revealed by flipping or rotating a series of plates or leaves. ...

manufactured by

Solari di Udine Solari di Udine SpA is an Italian company that designs and manufactures public information displays, historically split-flap displays. The company was founded in 1725 in Udine, a small city in northeastern Italy. Initially, the company specializ ...

, S.p.A., Italy. It was designed by Italian architect (1923–2003) in 1965, with contributions from Belgian inventor John Myer and

typography Typography is the art and technique of Typesetting, arranging type to make written language legibility, legible, readability, readable and beauty, appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, Point (typogra ...

design by

Massimo Vignelli Massimo Vignelli (; January 10, 1931 – May 27, 2014) was an Italian designer who worked in several areas, including packaging, housewares, furniture, public signage, and showroom design. He worked within the modernist tradition, emphasizing sim ...

. The Cifra 3 is widely considered a masterpiece of

industrial design Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in adva ...

, using a

split-flap display A split-flap display, or sometimes simply a flap display, is a digital electromechanical display device that presents changeable alphanumeric text, and occasionally fixed graphics. They were (from the 1960s to 1990s) commonly used as public tr ...

to display hours and minutes. The Cifra 3 was included in the 2004 "Humble Masterpieces" exhibition at the

Museum of Modern Art in New York The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, and includes over 200,000 works of arc ...

, and is in the museum's permanent collection. Many other museums include the clock in their collections, including the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

in New York, the

Science Museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, Industry (manufacturing), industry and Outline of industrial ...

in London and the

Israel Museum The Israel Museum (, ''Muze'on Yisrael'', ) is an Art museum, art and archaeology museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world's leading Encyclopedic museum, encyclopa ...

in Jerusalem.

History

Gino Valle's relationship with the Solari company began in 1954 with the design of the Cifra 5 electromechanical ''digit-snap'' clock (patented in 1957), consisting of 4 vertical pallets of 10 numbers each making up all the hours. The Cifra 5 clock was the progenitor of a full-fledged family of industrial-type clocks, awarded the

Compasso d'Oro The Compasso d'Oro (; ) is an industrial design award originated in Italy in 1954. Initially sponsored by the La Rinascente, a Milanese department store, the award has been organised and managed by the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (ADI ...

in 1956. With the help of Belgian inventor John Meyer, a roll of 48 pallets was achieved, leading to the creation of the smallest direct-reading clock, the iconic Cifra 3.

References

External links

{{Commons category, Solari Cifra 3
Cifra 3 web site

Solari di Udine S.p.A. official web site

Storia del disegno industriale, prodotto: CIFRA 3, design: GINO VALLE

The Solari Cifra 3 clock and Gino Valle's philanthropic vision

PDF list
(see p. 10) from MoMA's 200
Humble Masterpieces
exhibition Products introduced in 1965 Clocks Product design Industrial design Collection of the Museum of Modern Art (New York City)

History

See also

References

External links