A 'Quick' Phone Check Costs You 23 Minutes. Keep the Timer Off the Phone.
ZONE is a screen-free desk timer. The trigger to check the time lives on the desk — not on the device that taxes your focus 23 minutes at a time.
Get Your ZONE- See the time without touching the phone
- Keep deep context loaded, not unloaded
- iF Design Award 2025
- 2,000+ ZONES shipped
- 200+ Five-Star Reviews
How ZONE Protects Deep Context
Pick the Block
Choose the length the work needs — 25, 45, 90 minutes. Deep-context work needs room, and ZONE's faces match real focus lengths.
Flip to Start
One motion starts the countdown. No app to open — and no reason to pick up the phone to check the time.
Glance, Don't Reach
Minutes count down on the desk, in your eyeline. You check the time with a glance — not by unlocking the device that pulls you 23 minutes off task.
Gentle Finish
A soft chime ends the block, never a jarring alarm. You surface from deep context on your terms, with the problem still loaded.
What Editors Say
36 verified reviews with an average of 4.6 stars
"I have ADHD and every timer app turned into a scroll-hole. ZONE sits on my desk, I flip it, and I'm working. First focus tool that actually survived my brain."
"Time blindness is my whole life. Seeing the minutes physically count down — not buried in my phone — is the only thing that has ever made time feel real to me."
"The gentle chime is everything. Phone alarms spiked my anxiety and wrecked the next hour. ZONE pulls me out of hyperfocus softly. Game changer for my ADHD."
ZONE For Deep-Context Work
Where a single glance is most expensive.
The 4K Conform
Heavy, layered, slow to hold in your head. Flip ZONE and keep the phone face-down — re-loading the context costs more than the wait ever does.
The Motion Pass
Twenty layers and a curve editor open. One notification and it's gone. ZONE puts the clock on the desk so you never reach for the trigger.
The Long Edit
An hour into the cut, holding the whole sequence in mind. ZONE bounds the block so you stop on a chime, not on a glance at your phone.
The Re-entry
Back from a break? Set a short ZONE block to climb back into the problem before committing to the long one.
ZONE
The #1 Timer for Mindful Productivity
The minimalist desk timer for mindful focus. Customizable time blocks, a gentle chime, and minutes-only display — built for clean, calm productivity.
iF Design Award
Winner 2025
Customizable Time Blocks
Gentle Chime or Silent Vibration
Soft-Touch Minimal Design
Minutes-Only Display (No Seconds)
Designed in The Netherlands
Shipping information
Our products are designed by us in The Netherlands, and manufactured by our partner in Shenzhen (PRC). International orders will ship from The Netherlands, or our Shenzhen warehouse, taking 6-10 business days worldwide.
Returns
In the US & Canada, European Union and United Kingdom we offer the option toreturn any purchase for any reasonwithin 14 days. New Things Lab strongly believes in the quality of its products. Within The Netherlands, we will cover the return shipment when you are not satisfied with the product during this period. Should this be the case – please request the return form.
Do you have a question?
We are problem solvers at heart!
If you have any question, contact us via phone and email, or you can use the form.
email: support@newthingslab.com
phone: +31 (0) 6 33 17 66 19
ZONE vs. Your Phone Timer
| Feature | ZONE | Phone Timer |
|---|---|---|
| Can’t pull you into a doom-scroll | ||
| No anxiety-inducing seconds counter | ||
| Starts in one motion (no unlock, no app) | ||
| Gentle finish, no jarring alarm | ||
| Flexible blocks (not rigid 25-min Pomodoro) | ||
| Always visible — fights time blindness | ||
| Zero notifications competing for attention |
Deep-Focus Questions, Answered
The questions deep-context workers actually ask.
It comes from Gloria Mark's research at UC Irvine: after an interruption it takes roughly 23 minutes to fully return to the original task. For work you hold in your head — an edit, a comp, a problem — that re-entry is the expensive part. ZONE keeps the timer off the phone so you don't trigger it.
Because the software timer lives on the same screen you're focused on, and a phone timer lives next to every notification you own. ZONE is off both — a glance, not an unlock.
Because deep work isn't one length — a pass is 25 minutes, a conform is 90. Programme each face once and flip-and-go, instead of re-setting and re-tempting yourself with the phone.
It's designed to — enough to surface you gently, never enough to jar. There's a silent vibration option, and the cube stays in your peripheral vision so you can see the block end before the chime.
A ticking seconds display is a constant micro-distraction. You don't need to watch every second pass — you need to know the block is holding. Minutes-only keeps attention on the work.
Yes — we ship to 40+ countries. Shipping is free on orders over $79; a flat rate applies below that, calculated at checkout.
Ready to stop paying the 23-minute tax?
Get Your ZONE