Pacman223 wrote: That's very cool. I bet this was one of the first digital clocks a normal person could buy.
Well, for electronics hobbyists, anyway. The early '70s was when digital clocks were starting to become accessible component-wise. Integrated circuit technology was starting to become cheaper, and companies like B&F Enterprises were offering (relative) bargains on display tubes (LED technology was still in its infancy, but picking up speed rapidly). Here is a photo of another early nixie tube clock I have, hand-wired using perfboard:
(Unfortunately, someone stripped the power transformer from it at some time; I'll have to make another thread about it at some point)
Popular Electronics and other magazines started publishing various designs for digital clocks, such as the "Digi-Vista" (
4-digit
and
6-digit
versions). Soon, entire kits were offered by the likes of B&F Enterprises and, of course,
Heathkit
. Around this time, companies began offering various different
"clock-on-a-chip" ICs
, like National Semiconductor's MM53xx series.
In the mid-late '70s, fully-assembled digital clocks became commercially viable through the use of both multi-digit vacuum fluorescent displays, and the maturation of LED display technology, which was much easier (read: cheaper) to drive than neon or incandescent display tubes. Hobbyist building of digital clocks started to fall by the wayside around that time, though some interesting project articles appeared from time to time, such as the
Skitronix
Hyperclock
. Nowadays, improved microcontroller technology has led to new and varied custom clock circuit designs, including ones using the good ol' numerical display tubes we know and love.