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This clock was famous, but the internet ruined it.

Tom Scott · 4.7M views · 2022-06-27 · 7:27

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Overview

Tom Scott explains the famous Dutch flower auction clock at Royal FloraHolland in Aalsmeer, a literal Dutch auction, and how the internet changed it. It is a short look at how the system worked then and now.

On Hacker News

HN cites it as a fascinating explanation of a real Dutch auction, in threads about auctions and ticket sales.

Recommended by 1 HN people across 1 months · HN mentions 2022–2023

Topics

Microeconomics & behavioral economicsBusiness & economics (other)Tech industry & business models
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dutch auctionflower auctionaalsmeermarket designtom scott

What people said

poopsmithe · 2022-11 · Recommendation

YES! I love this concept. The big clock featured in the post was described in a Tom Scott video[1] earlier this year. It's the Royal FloraHolland's flower auction in Aalsmeer. Fascinating to see how it worked then and how it works now. Same concept, just computerized and accessible remotely by bidders. [1] [VIDEO]

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somat · 2023-09 · Reference

Have you seen how the dutch flower auctions do it? Those guys have something like 30 seconds max to hit their mark. Now those are professional buyers. I think for your amateur crowd you would have to provide a bit more time. perhaps a week. just make it clear what is happening. And that big clock, have you seen the big clock? if I ever made a dutch auction ticket site A big clock would feature predominantly in the ui. Unfortunately I don't think the flower auctions use the big clock anymore. which is a shame. [VIDEO] (tom scott)

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Nican · 2022-12 · Reference

Price decreases as time passes? It is called an Dutch auction. [1] The most famous example I can think of is the flower auction/Amsterdam clock.[2] [1] [LINK] [2] [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by Tom Scott, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

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