Nixie Clock? With downward facing tubes for the dots in the colons? (I.E. pointing straight at you.)
Serious answer to the side question -- I saw KG criticizing Mikhail's choice of tube sockets and recommend replacing them with ceramics enough times that I googled researched the topic a little bit and found this site. The thing that I found most eyebrow-raising was the water-absorption of ceramic, wouldn't mind knowing if that's malarkey or not (they are, after all, trying to sell their own choice of materials). I have to admit to noticing my ceramic sockets getting soggy over the course of decades. Oh, wait a minute, no, that never happened.
another link
google for yourself