From the George Pal movie over half a century ago, way before Deloreans and even Police Boxes, the time machine this chair belonged to was at one point the only way to get around in time and create plot holes in screenplays.
It's still the one of the coolest of all the time machines, of all time, with its elegant steampunk styling, before steampunk was steampunk, by Bill Ferrari.
To give it that classic look, the chair used in the original late 50's production was a suitably ornate and complicated looking real barbers chair from the protagonists Victorian era, a Berninghaus Hercules; It was modified slightly in a few ways to give it a more purposeful look as the time pilots chair, or perhaps simply to disguise it a little.
A recreation of this same chair was also used in the 2002 remake with even further modifications to the basic shape situated in a far larger and more elaborate machine.