The 24 hour watch fans at the AAA watch club make the beautiful Forté collection of real 24 hour watches. Here is the Forté ALPHA model, 24HR-ALPHA-24S, with 24 at the top of the dial (yes, they also make them with “00” and “12” at the top!) in varying sizes. Also shown here is the luminous night vision view.
Use the following coupon code at the checkout to obtain a 10% discount off the price of these watches:
24hourtime-info
The Svalbard Watch company have just added more models to their already extensive range of 24-hour watches:
The two regulator designs show the hour hand in the top small dial, with 12 at the very top; the large hand is the minute indicator. This design, once used on precision clocks, is based on the sensible idea that you probably already know what the hour is, and are looking at your watch more to get some idea of the precise minute.
A description of all new models is available on the official Svalbard website. You can use the code “24HOURTIME24” to get a 7% discount.
World map clocks have always been popular ways of presenting the 24 hour clock and its basis in physical geography.
Here’s a picture of Tom Shannon’s Synchronous World Clock. (Thanks for the link, Tom.)
The map on the face is by Buckminster Fuller and Shoji Sadao. A limited edition of 20 was made in 1983.
If you’re looking for something a bit more basic, here’s Trintec’s World Clock:
You can find vintage versions of this Seiko compact world time clock for sale online. I think it was made in the 1970s or 1980s:
If you want a more abstract design, you might—if you’re very lucky—find a Willis World Clock from the 1930s:
Looking at all these world map clocks, I’m not sure whether the NorthPole-centered projections are more or less common than the SouthPole-centered ones. I suppose that one advantage of the SouthPole versions are that the clock’s motion can be clockwise, with the hands moving clockwise as the world rotates eastwards. With the NorthPole versions, the eastwards motion has to be reproduced with counter-clockwise motion.
There’s a well-known observation that 50% of the human population is less than average in terms of intelligence. Statisticians argue with the precise meaning of this statement, but, as someone else observes, “it just seems that way”!
This photograph, taken by Mark Serrels, Editorial Director at CNET News, is from a story that leaps happily onto the pile of evidence in support of the statement.
Serrels’ fascinating story, The Bizarre Tale of the Australia Flat Earth Convention that Fell Apart, is about the only two people who turned up to a flat-Earth convention in Australia. It starts off being funny, but soon becomes a sad tale of mental inadequacy and self-delusion.
In this photograph it’s difficult to see whether the convention audience (all two of them) are standing in front of a clock, or just a map that looks like a clock. The numbers around the edge are arranged counter-clockwise, and I can’t see whether it starts with a zero or ends with a 24. It looks like there’s some kind of wiggly pointer aiming to 13…
I think it would make a decent clock. And I don’t think it means that it should be taken literally as a representation of our world.
Projecting a spherical object onto a 2D surface has been a familiar challenge ever since the Greek and Arab astronomers developed the astrolabe, a 2D projection of a complex 3D system, well illustrated by this diagram from Wikipedia:
Clock makers have often used 2D projections of the Earth’s surface as the background for rotating dials, although some have introduced the added complexity of rotating globes, of both the moon and the Earth.
Elsewhere on this site there’s a brief investigation of the map projections that could be used to show most of the land masses on our Earth on a flat disk, suitable for use in a 24 hour clock:
I ought to remake this image, but for now this image from Wikimedia (by RokerHRO) will have to do:
It’s surprising that anyone could mistake this geometric construction for a life-like representation of our planet!
The Svalbard Watch company have added more models to their already extensive range of 24-hour watches:
On the top row: Antikken-AA21B, Elementary-AA20B, and Glacier-AA19B.
On the bottom row: Militaer-Pilot-AA18B, Noonday-AA17C, Sol-Og-Mane-AA16C, and Sol-Og-Mane-AA16D.
A description of all new models is available on the official Svalbard website: http://svalbard.watch
New and previous models are available at the official tax-free store.
Use the code “24HOURTIME24” to obtain a 7% discount. Please let everyone know what you think of these watches!
Today’s the Winter Solstice in the UK, and the sun was visible for about 6 hours. Up in Svalbard, Latitude 78°13′N, longitude 15°38′E, though, the sun hasn’t risen for weeks, and won’t be seen again by anybody living there until February 15, 2018.
The Svalbard Company’s watches are inspired by the beautiful, extreme and challenging landscapes of Svalbard and are valued more for their elaborate artistry, aesthetic appeal and fashionable design than for simple timekeeping. The Svalbard company has released new models for 2018:
These new models (and previous ones) are available on the official tax-free store. Use the discount code “24HOURTIME24” to obtain a 7% discount.
The Equilibrium collection is made in titanium with an anti-glare sapphire crystal. It has an ana-digit construction, which means that it combines a Swiss analog hand movement with a proprietary digital display and programming. A powerful chip using complex solar and lunar algorithms enabling a more comprehensive time data capability than found in any other watch.
Here is a listing of what it has to offer:
Visit YES Solunar Wrist Watches for more information.
