Aradora Classic Spring Drive Chess Clock—Black Plastic Case

Classic mechanical analogue chess clock of 1980s Romanian design origin with robust underslung actuation and button lock mechanism in black plastic case

The Aradora mechanical analogue chess clock is a rugged Eastern Bloc survivor from Cold War days that just keeps on ticking. The Romanians were pleased by their new Marxist–Leninist chess clock back in the 1980s and free world players concurred as examples filtered their way through the Iron Curtain to the Capitalist West as limited exports. A pleasant portmanteau of the name of its original city of manufacture Arad and the word oră meaning hour, the Aradora is now made in China yet with its essential character intact. If a chess clock like the Serbian INSA is a highly tuned sports car then the Aradora is a stump pulling farm tractor! Today the Aradora is the entry point for a mechanical analogue chess clock of solid construction with a European heritage for traditionalists left cold by all the generic toy shop stuff.

Specifications

• Size: 170 x 120 x 60 mm
• Material: Plastic
• Colour: Black

Please note that starting in the last decade of the previous century electronic digital chess clocks began to supplant mechanical analogue chess clocks for formal tournament and match play. While the former generally are now a requirement for competitive chess the latter are still appreciated and many keen chess players with a sense of history will acquire both and select a particular model of either type to suit their mood and the occasion.