Will the mobile phone kill off the humble alarm clock?

That raises the question of whether the ordinary alarm clock should be put on the list of endangered species. After all, the desktop computer put paid to the typewriter. Is it time for the bedside clock to sound its last post?

German appliance manufacturer Braun no longer lists alarm clocks in its range of products online. Its classic analogue clock has been licensed to other manufacturers since last year and is now being marketed by a British company. What led to this development?

“That business no longer belongs to our core activities,” says Braun spokesman, Lars Atorf, who also stresses that shoppers can still buy the clock in the shops. Atorf believes that alarm clocks will eventually give way to the age of the mobile phone.

Braun's analogue clock can be found in the catalogue of Manufactum, a company that specializes in selling classic design items. Manufactum also has a mechanical clock that retails for US$364. The silver, round alarm clock is made by a small firm in Switzerland called Looping and is based on a 1932 design.

According to the catalogue description, it is “a product of serious clock making” and has a secure place in our digital age.

“It's a very popular mechanical clock,” says Looping's owner Edgar Sutter who points out that a spring-driven clock can be repaired by any watchmaker if something goes wrong. “But they can't help when your quartz clock is broken.”

Sutter bought Looping in 1982 after it went bankrupt and turned it into a success story. Its order books are full for another two years. Sutter says he and his seven employees are the only people in the world making high quality mechanical alarm clocks. His clocks also tick surprisingly quietly.

Berlin store owner Friedrich Bischoff still gets plenty of customers looking for an old-fashioned way to be woken up. It is the same principle with people who prefer windup wrist watches to battery driven devices. “There are always trends that go against the flow,” says Bischoff.

According to accepted thinking in professional circles, the alarm clock was invented in the US in the 18th century. It grew in importance during the era of industrialization by allowing factory employees to get to work on time.

Alarm clocks fall into two categories: the table clock and the travel clock. Radio alarm clocks with digital faces enjoyed the height of their popularity in the 1980s. Today, many radio alarm clocks can also play MP3 music files.

“Naturally, alarm clocks continue to be sold,” says Joachim Duenkelmann, chief executive of Germany's Association of Jewelers and Clockmakers. Duenkelmann does not think the bedside alarm clock is at risk of dying out: “Not many people tend to put their mobile phone beside their bed.”

An inquiry at Germany's consumer research organization, the Gesellschaft fuer Konsumforschung, indicates demand for radio alarm clocks is holding up.

“The market for such alarm clocks is stable,” says marketing manager Arndt Polifke. Last year 1.9 million radio alarm clocks were sold in Germany alone, but that figure does not show if people prefer to take their grandmother's old alarm clock or use their mobile phone when traveling abroad.

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