Lisbon-based studio Cabracega recently collaborated with designer André Gonçalves on USMA, "a clock without a visual interface," which is intended to "bring the countryside into the city."In Portugal, the urban population keeps growing year after year, in accordance to the world tendency for desertification of the rural space. In the urban space, the pace is increasingly fast because time is money and every second counts.

USMA is a clock without a visual interface, resorting only to sound to mark the passage of time. The sound of the church bell is the clock hand, which intends to bring home the rural experience with the definite goal of giving a new rhythm to city life.

That's right, the clock has no display: instead, it simply indicates the time by chiming the number on the hour—as well as a single chime every half hour—in the manner of a traditional clocktower.

USMA is a fascinating concept precisely because it's not just an app or a function built into a traditional clock: the unassuming wood block is specifically intended to indicate the hour with an age-old audio cue. In keeping with the concept of keeping time at a slower pace, the time can only be set at noon or midnight with a button on the bottom of the clock.