When not in use as a timer, the time and date--month, day, year, and day of the week--are displayed. There's also a stopwatch function that's useful in many ways, and not necessarily only in the kitchen. The easy-to-read display is helpful when there's kitchen work going on; that way it can hang up out of the way and stay clean. A loud tone sounds when the time is up; and the memory function stores up to three countdown times for reuse. The versatile clip can also become an easel stand, and it has a magnet, too--it's good to go wherever it's needed.