Throughout their careers, Constantin and Laurene Boym repeatedly returned to the clock as one of their most enduring design subjects. Rather than treating it as a purely functional object, they saw the clock as a ongoing site of experimentation.

It is common for the Boyms to begin with something universally recognizable and allow the smallest conceptual shift to completely alter its meaning. A famous painting becomes a clock face, rubber bands replace conventional numerals, office supplies become mechanisms, or movement itself becomes the subject of the design. Each clock remains fully functional while quietly encouraging viewers to reconsider an object they otherwise may stop noticing or truly paying attention to.

Brought together, the following clock designs reveal one of the defining ideas behind the Boym’s broader practice: extraordinary design often begins not by inventing something new, but by looking more carefully at what already exists.

MONA LISA CLOCK

One of Constantin Boym's most recognizable designs, the Mona Lisa Clock transforms Leonardo da Vinci's iconic portrait into a functioning domestic object. Only twice a day is the iconic visage complete, at noon and midnight for only a fleeting moment. At other times, the image is fragmented, shifted, and distorted as a visual commentary on time and timelessness. Originally, Constantin used a page from a Leonardi da Vinci art book in his library to create the first prototype. Rather than preserving the painting as a distant museum masterpiece, Boym relocates it into everyday life, where one of history's most reproduced images quietly measures the passing of time. Produced carefully and expensivelly in its first edition by Elika as a photo transfer on aluminum. Later produced by Kikkerland.

MOVING CLOCK

The Moving Clock challenges one of the most fundamental assumptions surrounding clocks: that the object itself remains fixed while only the hands move. By switching this dynamic, the Boyms created an optical uncertainty that produced a funny and sometimes disquieting impression of an animate object. The object is most similar to a pendulum, perpetually in rocking motion.

The Boyms noticed what they described as an “insatiable” appetite for design clocks in the 1990s - this created the perfect environment for more unusual experiments.

RUBBER BAND CLOCK (2000)

A prototype design, the Rubber Band Clock replaces conventional graphic elements with an everyday office supply, elevating one of the simplest objects found on a desk. The work reflects the Boyms fascination with ordinary materials and their belief that thoughtful design can emerge through reinterpretation. Six rubber bands are stretched to make up the dial.

SWATCH (1995)

In 1995, Constantin paid a visit to his mentor and former employer, the legendary Milanese designer Allesandro Mendini. At the time, Mendini was responsible for the art direction of Swatch. He recomended Constantin submit a design for the Swatch ‘artists’ edition. He said with a wink, “I‘ll tell them you are an artist.”

Limited to only pictorial images for the dial’s face, the Boyms created six symbols encoded as miniature icons of everyday life: billiards 12 ball, two eggs, four holes on a button, a six-pack of beers, an octopus with eight legs, and a 10 rolled in a game of dice. 

The submission to Swatch included the note “lets look at the world with fresh eyes, with inquisitiveness and humor.” Before the final approval, Swatch deeed the six-pack “too American” and it was replaced with a neutral symbol of six pencils.

LABORIOUS CLOCK (1989)

Characteristic of the late 80s, the Laborious Clock was sleek, upscale, and ironic. Exposing the (hyperbolized) work hidden within the simple act of telling time, each number of the clock face is expressed as a different industrial process: rivets, scratches, welds, bends, and punches create meaning. The Laborious clock brought the Boyms their first I.D. Magazine award Design AwardRather than allowing the mechanism to disappear behind the clock face, Boym emphasizes the continual labor required to mark each passing second. At once playful and philosophical, the design transforms an ordinary household object into a reflection on routine, repetition, and the invisible systems that quietly structure everyday life.

ANTENNA CLOCK (1989)

Produced by Morphos, the Antenna Clock reflects Boym's interest in technology as both function and symbol. Borrowing the visual language of communication devices, the clock blurs distinctions between domestic object, machine, and sculpture while exploring how new technologies reshape everyday experience. Like many of Boym's designs, its conceptual shift is understated yet immediately memorable.

OUROBOROS CLOCK (1999)

Designed for the New York company Benza, the Ouroboros Clock emerged from a practical constraint: a limited production budget that allowed for only a single silkscreen color. Rather than viewing this as a limitation, Constantin Boym turned to one of history's oldest symbols - the ouroboros, a serpent consuming its own tail, long associated with cyclical time, renewal, and eternity.

Boym ultimately chose to live with the design himself, writing, "True to ouroboros' recurring essence, it is the last thing I see at night, and the first thing that greets me in the morning." The clock perfectly embodies one of the defining qualities of his practice: transforming familiar images through the smallest possible gesture, allowing an ordinary household object to quietly carry layers of historical and cultural meaning.

STAPLE CLOCK (1993)

Produced by Elika and inspired by the familiar office stapler, the Staple Clock transforms an ordinary workplace tool into an object for measuring time. The work connects two forms of daily routine—office labor and timekeeping—through a simple but unexpected association. Characteristically, Boym finds conceptual richness not in extraordinary materials, but in the overlooked objects already surrounding everyday life.

“I see staples as beautiful jewelry-like objects that people never have time or habit to notice. A good example of product economy, this clock retailed at $12, and remained the company’s bestseller for several years.” (C. Boym)

IN CONCLUSION:

The Boyms prove the clock all at once ironic, serious, humorous, sisyphean, and important. Much like design, the framing and perspective has huge importance. Viewed together, the designs above become far more than instruments for measuring time. They form an ongoing investigation into perception itself, revealing how familiar objects can continually acquire new meanings through the smallest conceptual gestures. Like much of Boym Partners' work, they remind us that extraordinary ideas are often hidden within the most ordinary aspects of everyday life.

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