An instrument for the long afternoon
The sun keeps
better time.
Clocks are a human agreement. The dial is not. Drag the day around its face and watch the shadow insist on its own slow, seasonal arithmetic.
14:20Afternoon / solar
Latitude 43° 17′ NDrag the day →Fig. 03 / 07
14:20
Note 01 — the equation
Noon is never on time.
The gap between clock noon and solar noon shifts through the year by up to sixteen minutes, a wobble caused by an elliptical orbit and a tilted axis.
±16′
Note 02 — the shadow
Light leaves a ruler.
At this latitude the noon shadow doubles in winter and almost disappears in June. The dial reads the season as much as the hour.
1 : 3.2
Note 03 — the slower hour
Every sundial runs slow.
Not a fault — a refusal to round. A dial divides the day by light, not by agreement, and so keeps a little of the afternoon for itself.
12.42