Marc Newson: Hourglass (20 Minutes)
Marc Newson has collaborated with the Swiss company HG Timepiece to create his iconic Hourglass timepiece in a twenty-minute version, complementing other precision timers he has designed. “This hourglass is all about time, but in a more esoteric and fundamental way. I was thinking of having fun with time,” said Newson.
Handblown from a single piece of nonreflective 5-millimeter-thick Cavalier borosilicate glass, the instrument’s manufacture relies on expert craftsmanship, resulting in a very limited number of pieces made available each year. The hourglass contains an average of 1,643,000 precisely engineered solid stainless-steel nanoballs, each 0.7 millimeters in diameter and electroplated in rose gold–colored bronze, a material with a long and storied sculptural legacy. The plating process requires extreme care and can only be completed in small batches. When the hourglass is inverted, the precision balls fall and bounce in an unstructured but mesmeric way.
Each hourglass is made to order; the lead time for the Hourglass (20 Minutes) is eight weeks.
Artist: Marc Newson
Producer: HG Timepiece
Date: 2024
Medium: Borosilicate glass and bronze-coated stainless-steel nanoballs
Dimensions: 7 5/8 × 6 1/2 × 6 1/2 inches (19.5 × 16.5 × 16.5 cm)
