• Ebb™ Sand Timer — antique brass frame with a hand-blown glass hourglass and white sand
  • Ebb™ Sand Timer running beside a mug of tea on an oak table
  • Ebb™ Sand Timer held in one hand, showing its 11 cm scale
  • Ebb™ Sand Timer detail — solid brass frame, hand-blown glass, weighted base
1 4
★★★★★ 4.7 44 reviews

Ebb™ Sand Timer

Ebb™ Sand Timer

Time you can see, not hear.

$37.90
$54.00 $37.90
Sale Sold out
No alarm, no buzzSolid brass, 175 gSeven run timesNever needs power

Why it runs true

The fill is graded quartz sifted to one grain size, so it runs at a steady rate instead of surging and stalling the way unsorted sand doesSolid brass discs and posts assembled with screws, not glue - the glass sits in soft washers so it survives being set down hard175 g with a wide base and a low centre of gravity, so a knocked table nudges it rather than tipping it over
Solid antiqued brassHand-blown glassGraded quartz sand
30-night risk-free guaranteeSleep on it for 30 nights. If it isn't right, we'll make it right.

A small antique-brass sand timer, 11 cm tall, with a hand-blown glass hourglass held between three brass posts on a weighted base. Choose the run time you actually need — one minute to fifteen — in white or black sand. Nothing to charge, nothing to silence, no screen involved.

Product Info

Solid antiqued brass, hand-blown glass, graded quartz sand

Material

11 cm tall × 6 cm base · 175 g · 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10 or 15 min

Sizes

Overview

To time three minutes you currently pick up the one object in the house engineered to stop you concentrating. You unlock it, you set the timer, and somewhere in the next three minutes you are reading something else. The problem was never the timing. It was the thing you had to touch to do it.

Ebb is 11 cm of antique brass and hand-blown glass that does one job. Turn it over and the sand starts. Nothing lights up, nothing pings, nothing asks you to dismiss a notification when it finishes - it simply runs out, and you notice, because the falling stream is the only moving thing on the table.

The frame is solid brass with an antiqued finish: two turned discs held apart by three slim posts, screwed rather than glued, with the glass captured between soft washers so it will not chip if you set it down hard. At 175 g it has the weight of something machined instead of moulded, and the wide base means a knocked table does not put it on the floor. The sand is graded quartz, sifted so the grains run at an even rate rather than surging and stalling the way cheap timers do.

Seven run times, because a timer that is the wrong length is just an ornament. One and two minutes for tea, a French press or brushing your teeth properly. Three, four and five for a breathing exercise, a plank, or the pause before you reply to something annoying. Ten and fifteen for a focus block, a bedtime wind-down or the amount of tidying you can face. White sand or black, both in the same brass.

Care

Dust the brass with a dry soft cloth. Leave the antique finish alone - brass polish will strip the darkened tone out of the recesses and leave it looking like a new door handle. For the glass, breathe on it and wipe with a microfibre cloth rather than spraying anything, because liquid running down into the seal can reach the sand and clump it. Keep it out of a steamy bathroom for the same reason. If the flow ever slows, it is almost always damp rather than a blockage: leave it somewhere warm and dry for a day.

Materials

Solid brass with an antiqued brushed finish - two turned discs and three slim posts, assembled with visible screws rather than adhesive. Hand-blown clear glass hourglass, captured top and bottom in soft washers. Fill is graded quartz sand in white or black. Verified size: 11 cm tall and 6 cm across the base. Weight approximately 175 g. Supplied assembled and ready to use; there is nothing to fit and no battery.

View full details
Ebb™ Sand Timer running beside a mug of tea on an oak table

The three minutes you keep losing

Tea, a French press, a breathing exercise, a plank. All the small timed things you currently reach for a phone to measure, and then lose fifteen minutes to. Turn it over and the timing happens on the table instead of in your hand.

Ebb™ Sand Timer held in one hand, showing its 11 cm scale

Smaller than the photos suggest

It is 11 cm tall and 6 cm across the base - it sits in one hand and takes up less desk than a mug. Heavy for its size at 175 g, because the frame is solid brass rather than plated zinc.

Ebb™ Sand Timer detail — solid brass frame, hand-blown glass, weighted base

Screwed together, not glued

Three brass posts run between two turned discs, fixed with visible screws, and the hand-blown glass is captured in soft washers at each end. It is the difference between an object that lasts and one that comes apart in a drawer.

4.7 / 5 ★★★★★

Trusted by people who take rest seriously

From recovery nights to everyday sleep, our customers choose structure that holds up.

★★★★★

Bought the 5 for tea, use it for everything

Ordered it to stop over-brewing green tea and it has ended up timing my morning stretch as well. The sand runs smoothly the whole way rather than dumping at the end, which the cheap one I had before did. Timed it against my phone twice and it was within a few seconds both times.

Rosa T.

Verified buyer

★★★★★

It is genuinely small

The listing says 11 cm and I still managed to picture something twice the size. It is a desk object, not a mantelpiece piece. Once I adjusted my expectations it is lovely - proper weight to it, and the brass has that slightly darkened look rather than shiny gold.

Callum B.

Verified buyer

★★★★★

The 15 is the one for work

I flip it at the start of a task and do not touch my phone until it runs out. Sounds like a gimmick, works better than any app I have paid for, mostly because there is nothing to open. Black sand is easier to see across a desk than white, for what it is worth.

Nadia F.

Verified buyer

We're here to help

Frequently asked questions

How accurate is it?
Within a few seconds of its stated time, which is what a graded quartz fill buys you. Sand timers are not stopwatches - humidity and how firmly you set it down both shift the flow slightly. For steeping tea, a breathing exercise or a focus block that is more than close enough. If you need a hard cutoff to the second, use a stopwatch.
Which run time should I pick?
1 and 2 minutes: green tea, a French press, brushing your teeth properly. 3 to 5 minutes: black tea, a breathing exercise, a plank, the pause before answering an annoying email. 10 and 15 minutes: a focus block, a bedtime wind-down, or as long as you can face tidying. If you are only buying one, 5 minutes covers the most ground.
How big is it really?
11 cm tall and 6 cm across the base, weighing about 175 g. It sits comfortably in one hand and takes up roughly the footprint of a mug on a desk. Photographs of small brass objects almost always read larger than life, so it is worth holding a ruler up before you order.
Is the frame solid brass or plated?
Solid brass with an antiqued finish, which is most of the 175 g. Plated zinc at this size would come in nearer 60 g and would wear through at the edges within a year. The darkening in the recesses is deliberate patina rather than tarnish, so leave the brass polish in the cupboard - it will strip the tone out and leave a shiny door-handle finish.
White sand or black?
Purely visual - both use the same graded quartz and run to the same time. White reads softer and disappears into a pale room; black gives you far more contrast, so you can see at a glance from across a desk how much is left. If it is going on a work desk rather than a shelf, take the black.
Can I keep it in the bathroom or kitchen?
A kitchen counter is fine. A steamy bathroom is not the best home for it long term - sand timers are sensitive to damp, and sustained humidity will eventually make the grains clump and the flow stutter. If that ever happens, it is recoverable: leave it somewhere warm and dry for a day and it will run clean again.

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