Cifra 3 is the iconic flip clock Gino Valle designed for Solari in the 1960s and patented in 1966, building on the split-flap display Solari had patented in 1950. It is still made in Udine, Italy, by Solari Lineadesign, which reintroduced it in 2015, and it is held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Science Museum in London. Valle (1923–2003) was an architect, designer, and painter who began working with Solari in 1954; his earlier Cifra 5 came first, and a later collaboration with Belgian inventor John Meyer gave the Cifra 3 its roller of 48 flaps. The hour and minute digits each have their own typeface, chosen by Massimo Vignelli at the end of the 1960s.
HOW IT WORKS
A small stepper motor turns two rollers of printed flaps, one for the hours and one for the minutes, and each minute the next flap falls into place. There are no hands to read: the time is simply the number in front of you, on a 24-hour cycle, and it reads easily from across a room. Solari describes the Cifra 3 as the smallest direct-reading clock made with a horizontal-leaf roller, and the flaps are still assembled by hand in sequence. The clock runs on two D batteries, which are included, and keeps time to within about a minute a year. Two levers on the side advance the hours and the minutes.
CHOOSING YOURS
The case is a glossy PC-ABS shell, 7 inches wide and just under 4 inches tall, behind a clear polycarbonate cover. The core colors are Black, White, Red, and Green, each with the white-on-black flap face, and Gold and Silver are offered as seasonal editions. For Solari’s 300th anniversary there are limited editions of 100 in Yellow, Mocha, and Pink. Every color shown is available; those not in stock ship in four to six weeks. For corporate gifts, Solari can produce the Cifra 3 with a screened message or logo on the front, starting at 10 pieces.
DEALER’S NOTES
You can hear the Cifra 3 work. Each minute brings a soft flip as the next flap drops. The hour is the loudest moment, because all four flaps change at once. Most people like the sound on a desk or a shelf, where it marks the time the way a mechanical clock’s tick does. Unless you’re a sound sleeper, it isn’t usually the clock we’d put at the bedside.
