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The following statement from the article is wrong. It is a misnomer:

"Analog clock with digital display / This type of clock is a variant of the digital clock that displayed time digitally but kept the time mechanically."

Does mechanical equal analog? Does electronic equal digital? The answer is NO.

This is apparently a misnomer gotten from this Web page:

   http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/digital-clock1.htm

If the clock uses an hour and minute hand, it is analog. If it displays the time in digits, it is digital. You can count the cycles in the 60Hz electric power for either type of clock. Digital watches usually count the cycles of a vibrating crystal of quartz. That's mechanical! So would you say that digital watches are really analog? Of course not. Non-electronic digital clocks have been around for decades. Some computer programs display an analog clock, even though it is electronic in origin. You wouldn't call that a digital clock now, would you?

Yes, this misnomer in the article (quoted above) is from a "reference", but not a very good one!!!

AEF -- 2007-07-08 21:01 UTC

I agree with you, I've therefore changed the introduction.

The largest number of clocks has either a digital display and an electronic drive, or a display with hands and face and an mechanic drive – therefore digitally is widely associated with quartz drive and analog with a mechanical clock work. Nevertheless, analog/digital refers to the display, not to the drive. And in recent times, an increasing number of watches with hands is also driven by an electronic, e.g. quartz, device. As far as my knowledge of English is correct, they are called analog (as in your example with the computer program displaying hands).

--Cyfal (talk) 13:51, 3 August 2008 (UTC)Reply

Yes, the words analogue and digital refer just to the display when used to describe clocks. There is room for dispute about an LCD emulation of an analogue display. Almost all drive mechanisms (whether mechanical or electronic) are digital in the sense that they use discrete pulses (through the escapement mechanism for "traditional clockwork"). The only possible exception is the old design of 50 Hz or 60 Hz "mains" clock that uses a sychronous motor. One could argue that the motor runs continuously, with the frequency used only to keep a constant speed. The modern electronic "mains" sychronous clock is definitely digital in operation. Dbfirs 10:18, 7 January 2010 (UTC)Reply

Is it possible that the earliest digital clock wasn't a "Plato" but the "Five minute" clock over the stage at Dresden's Semperoper?

http://www.uhrmacherwerkstatt.com/Teubner/teubner.html

iPhil (talk) 23:08, 18 June 2012 (UTC)Reply

Please add photo(s) of outdoor building clocks, which are/were common on or next to banks and some tall buildings. In the past, many banks in the suburbs had dual purpose displays that cycle between time and temperature. These may also be known as "street clocks" or "street thermometers". • Sbmeirow • Talk • 10:25, 10 October 2019 (UTC)Reply

This article needs more examples of mechanical digital clocks. There is only one image, and that is of art of a clock, not even a clock itself. Tadfafty (talk) 05:28, 26 May 2021 (UTC)Reply

This has been resolved.Tadfafty (talk) 20:30, 27 November 2025 (UTC)Reply