Design Moment: Braun travel alarm, 1975

Before smartphones put the humble alarm clock on the road to obsolescence, Braun was the go-to brand for anyone interested in affordable design for their wake-up call.

It was in its clock-making heyday in the 1970s and 1980s, at the time when Dieter Rams (b. 1932) was head of design and Dietrich Lubs (b. 1938) a senior designer. In 1975, they collaborated on a compact alarm clock – it fits comfortably in the palm of your hand – and for industrial design students who now study it for its perfect simplicity, it is a realised vision of Rams’s influential 10 principles of good design.

In it he stresses simplicity in design, that a product should be understandable, unobtrusive, honest, long-lasting and thorough down to the last detail.

Monochrome colourway

The AB 20/20 tb clock is easy to read with its monochrome colourway – the white time markings on the black face are indicated by white minute and hour arms. There’s a cheery yellow second hand and the green tip on a black hand indicates the alarm time.

Design Moment: Sony Walkman, 1979

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Priced out of southside Dublin? Look north to Drumcondra

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What sold for €940K and less in Glasnevin, Ranelagh, Sandymount and Stillorgan

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Fake mews in Ballsbridge - it’s a lavish 4,000sq ft home for €2.25m

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When they realised that their AB 20/20 clock would make a perfect travel alarm clock they added a flip-down cover with a dual purpose – it is printed with a graphic of worldwide time zones and when flipped up it prevents the buttons to be pressed when in transit.