A display in the luggage section of Bloomingdale’s featured a row of clocks showing the time in a host of destinations — Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York, London, Rome, Dubai, and Shanghai — presumably inspire you to travel. It made for eye-catching decor — only for the wrong reason as several clocks were out of sync. Of course, varied hours represent different time zones, but varied minutes represent a failure to maintain the display.
I doubt when the designer installed it that anyone considered the effort required in the future. Changing times when daylight savings was on and then off. Replacing batteries. Trying to get multiple analog clocks to show precisely the same time. Maintaining it correctly is not sustainable, especially when it is located near the ceiling in a hard-to-reach location.
Things that look good on paper do not always function well in reality or over time. Before you implement something, think through what it will require over the long term and who you expect will perform that maintenance. Having a static display may be the most timely decision.
