The Contrattempo clock is slightly larger than a lot of other clocks made at the time. The center second-dial moves incrementally while the pendulum swings.

Raul Barbieri & Giorgio Marianelli started the Barbieri e Marianelli Architetti studio in 1974 and began to create some of their first products for the Italian furniture company, Rexite. The Contrattempo was designed in 1987 and you can see the influence of postmodern design. Marianelli worked under Ettore Sottsass in 1968, who was the director of the Olivetti Industrial Design Department at that time.