Australian designer Marc Newson has designed an hourglass for watch brand Ikepod, which contains tiny gold-plated stainless steel balls instead of sand.

The hourglass comes in four colours and two sizes - a ten minute or 60 minute timer.

See also: Ikepod wristwatches by Marc Newson

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Here is more information from Ikepod:

The Hourglass by Marc Newson

Ikepod has over the years sought to convey something different to the watch collector's world, something that introduces elements from the worlds of art and design into the world of fine horology.

It is always a challenge to cross between worlds and between cultures, but Ikepod designer Marc Newson has done so, for over 20 years, by designing everything from limited edition furniture that has set auction records to the new airbus A380 for Qantas.

Ikepod, which has produced Newson’s timepieces now  brings timekeeping, design and sculpture together in the form of The Hourglass.

Marc Newson’s Hourglass is a feat of engineering made using borosilicate glass and millions of stainless steel nanoballs.

Borosilicate is a specialized and unusually durable type of glass. It is used in laboratories and aerospace applications because it is able to withstand high pressure and weight loads.

Our glass blower based in Basel Switzerland individually produce each piece by hand, closely reproducing Newson’s design.

The Hourglass is the consummate Ikepod anachronism , a merger of an age old time keeping mechanism crafted by hand, filled with millions of high tech metallurgical nanoballs, resulting in a 10 or 60 minutes chronometer unlike any other.

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Night Night by Vanessa Hordies	Ikepod wristwatches by Marc Newson	Marc Newson for G-Star RAW