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Historic Italian brand Solari turns 300 and gifts design lovers the perfect present: a limited-edition series of the iconic Cifra 3 clock.
Anyone who’s ever waited for a train or flight knows the unforgettable sound of numbers flipping over the gate board. While now largely replaced with fully digital displays, the split-flap mechanism still maintains its unmistakable old-world charm. Created by historic Italian brand Solari, the system was once used around the world. Indeed, the electromechanical displays were generally referred to as Solari boards. So it’s no wonder that the family-owned company would go on to reinvent one of the most ordinary objects in the home: the table clock.
Designed in 1965 by renowned architect and designer Gino Valle, the Solari Cifra 3 clock featured an innovative display with numbered flaps that rotated in sequence to show the passage of time. The clock also featured typography designed by Massimo Vignelli, and a specially-engineered mechanism created by Belgian inventor John Myer. A year later, MoMA added the design to its permanent collection. The rest is history. In 2025, to mark its impressive 300th anniversary, Solari has launched a special edition of Cifra 3, delighting design lovers with 3 limited-edition colors that put the iconic clock in a new light.
Poetically produced in an ultra-limited edition of only 300 numbered pieces, the three new editions of the Cifra 3 reimagine the beloved clock in bright Yellow, delicate Rosa, and warm Mocha. Naturally, the design remains the same, combining an elongated oval body with a glass front and the split-flap mechanism that gives more excitement to every passing minute.
Each color changes Cifra 3 in subtle ways. While the Yellow model recalls the bright plastics of early industrial design, giving a nod to Italy’s long history of design innovation, Rosa softens the shape with a pale, powder-like hue. Finally, Mocha feels denser and warmer, closer to the tone of old Bakelite radios, bringing a vintage feel to the design. Like other Solari products, every clock is assembled by hand at the Solari workshop in Udine, using the same process that has carried the design through decades of production.
A masterpiece of Italian design, Cifra 3 remains what it always was: a compact, reliable, and simply beautiful object that measures time through movement you can see, adding more depth and weight to every moment.
