it's time to go back in time... with time!

.7" bright orange Nixie display
Soft fade display!
12 or 24 hour format!
Top face or side face Nixie tubes
Today's technology with yesterday's display!
The ultimate conversation piece!
Unique and attractive case designs

THE HISTORY

The Nixie tube made its debut in 1954 and quickly found its way as a digital display in high end test equipment, frequency counters, military applications and research projects. Soon they were used as the very first electronic digital display in consumer products like calculators, and the very first digital clocks. For those that were there, who could forget that warm golden glow of digital numbers changing before your eyes!
In the early 70's seven segment vacuum fluorescent displays quickly replaced the Nixie because they did not require the complex cathode structure and also provided higher resolution graphics. As technology grew, vacuum fluorescent displays were quickly replaced with LED displays because they were much smaller, less fragile, had lower power consumption, and could rival the brightness and intensity of VCD's. Not requiring high voltage, LED seven segment displays quickly became the standard display for virtually all digital display products. Subminiature versions even found their way into the early Pulsar wristwatches!
Ironically, Ramsey Electronics started up in the early 70's and one of our first products was a neat and very high tech 7 segment LED clock kit in a nice extruded aluminum housing. It became extremely popular and we became famous for bringing state-of-the-art IC driven LED display technology to the hobbyist! Now, more than three decades later, we are proud to bring not only a piece of history, but piece a of Ramsey history back to the hobbyist... The Nixie Tube Digital Clocks!



RETRO AT IT'S FINEST!

Designed to pay homage to the era which birthed the Nixie, these clocks won't pick up radio stations, won't dock your iPod, and certainly won't play CDs. They won't even wake you up in the morning. But what they will do is display the time, beautifully and simply, like no other clock today can! Once utilized for military and high-end test equipment, Nixies are now prized for their modern aesthetics. The warm neon glow of a Nixie clock adds a cool retro touch to any office, home or work area.

Since their "demise", Nixie tubes haven't been manufactured domestically for decades. However they were still being manufactured in high volume in the mid 80's in the former Soviet Union. These Nixie tubes are the only ones readily available today, and are the tubes used in the clocks. These space-race era Russian manufactured tubes also feature a great conversation starter... the number "5" is an upside down "2" reflecting an efficient and cost effective design philosophy from the cold war superpower! Both unexpected, effective, and thought provoking!





Source: http://www.ramseyelectronics.com