Time flies: iconic Swiss railway clock turns 75

Horloge de gare avec montagne en arrière-plan — The famous clock is found at all the railway stations across the country, also at Goppenstein. (Photo: Martin Ruetschi/Keystone) Martin Ruetschi / Keystone

Horloge dans la gare de Bâle. — The clock at Basel railway station tells train passengers to hurry up (Photo: Martin Ruetschi/Keystone) Martin Ruetschi / Keystone

Des ouvriers en train de fabriquer une horloge CFF: — The clocks are produced by the company Mobatime Swiss in a village of the Emmental region (Photo: Martin Ruetschi/Keystone) Martin Ruetschi / Keystone

Un ouvrier en train de peindre une pièce d horloge au pistolet. — An employee primes hour hands at the production facility in Sumiswald (Photo: Christian Beutler/Keystone) Christian Beutler / Keystone

Voiture attendant d être chargée sur un wagon. — Car shuttle train station at Göschenen in central Switzerland. The cars have changed a lot since 1955 but the clock design is unchanged (Photo: Ilse Mayer-Günther/Keystone) Ilse Mayer-Guenther / Keystone

Horloge CFF transportée par hélicoptère. — This clock, 3.5 metres in diameter and weighing 2.2 tonnes, became the biggest of its kind in 2002 (Photo: Franco Greco/Keystone) Franco Greco / Keystone

Horloge sur un écran de tablette. — The clock symbol on the Apple iPad, released in 2012, was strongly influenced by the Swiss national railway station clock (Photo: Ferdinand Ostrop/AP Photo) Ferdinand Ostrop / AP Photo

Montage d une horloge dans un trou de mur. — Refitting the clock at Olten railway station in 2016 after the building was refurbished (Photo: Urs Flüeler/Keystone) Urs Flüeler / Keystone

Horloge devant le siège des CFF à Berne. — The large clock at the Federal Railways headquarters in Bern is digital (Photo: Christian Beutler/Keystone) Christian Beutler / Keystone

Montage des aiguilles d une énorme horloge de gare. — The clock at Aarau railway station is currently the largest in service. It was installed in 2010 (Photo: Peter Schneider/Keystone) Peter Schneider / Keystone

The clocks in Switzerland's railway stations with their particular modern look have become an icon of Swiss design.

This content was published on January 18, 2019 - 13:21

I'm mainly in charge of translating, proofreading and publishing articles for SWI swissinfo.ch. I also occasionally write press reviews and original articles on "Swiss oddities". After studying history and religious studies, I began my journalistic career at Radio Fribourg. After a spell with the Swiss newsroom of the Swiss Telegraphic Agency, I joined SWI swissinfo.ch in 2000. I worked there for a long time as a specialist in federal politics, then in historical themes. More recently, I've been translating, proofreading and putting articles online.

Olivier Pauchard (text) and Daniel Rihs (picture editor), swissinfo.ch

The clock is the brainchild of Hans Hilfiker, an engineer with the Federal Railways, and was used for the first time in 1944. The timepiece remains eye-catching 75 years on.

Hilfiker was inspired by the Bauhaus movement, a German art school noted for a synthesising technology, craftsmanship and design aesthetics.

Instead of numbers, the clock face shows simple vertical lines as indicators and a rotating red second hand reminiscent of the traditional signalling disc of the station masters.

Despite its age the design looks as young and fresh as ever. It served as a model for the clocks on the tablet computers which Apple introduced in 2012.

In a bid to avert a legal dispute, Apple agreed to pay CHF20 million ($20.1 million) to the Swiss national railway company in exchange for the rights to use the clock design. It disappeared from iPads soon afterwards, when Apple released its iOS 7 mobile operating system in 2013.

Adapted from French by Urs Geiser

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

Apple takes a bite of Swiss rail design

This content was published on Sep 20, 2012 “On the one hand we’re happy that Apple adopted the Swiss railway clock. It just goes to show that it is truly a design piece,” railways spokesman Christian Ginsig told the German-language Blick am Abend newspaper on Thursday. However, he pointed out that Apple’s use of the design was unauthorised. As the owner of the…

Clocks on a wall displaying different time zones

Swiss atomic clock helps keep the world on time

This content was published on Dec 22, 2018 The Federal Institute of Metrology has announced that Switzerland is for the first time helping to keep Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

Two workers load part of the Zytglogge on the back of a truck.

As time takes its toll, the Zytglogge gets a facelift

This content was published on Mar 7, 2018 The intricate moving parts of the Swiss capital's ornate astronomical clock have been taken away for repairs.

A Swiss village clock is restored

This content was published on Nov 11, 2017 The clockface on the tower of the church in Möriken is shining again. For the past few months the village was without time while it was restored.