An analog face lettered in stone, with a readout that tells the same hour in numerals. It follows your device's clock and never phones home to ask.
XII : N
12:00
I · I · MMXXVI
Day, month, year
N stands for nulla, "none". The Romans had no numeral for zero, but medieval writers used this word when they needed one.
Study a particular time
Twelve numerals, three hands, one old quarrel about the number four.
The short, spade-tipped hand points to the hour. The long slender hand gives the minutes, and the terracotta hand with the ring near its tip counts seconds. The hour hand drifts as the minutes pass, so at half past two it sits midway between II and III.
The large lettering beside the clock spells the time in numerals, hours then minutes, with seconds when the sweep or tick hand is on. Below it are the same figures in ordinary digits and today's date as day, month and year.
Many traditional clock faces write four as IIII rather than IV. Several explanations are offered, among them visual balance against VIII on the opposite side of the dial and the convenience of casting. Tick the box above to see your clock take the clockmaker's side.
Where the time comes from. The clock reads the date and time settings of the device you are holding. It does not look anything up, so if your device's clock is wrong, so is this one. Everything is calculated in your browser.
Zero minutes and seconds. There is no Roman numeral for zero, so on the hour the minutes are written N, short for nulla, the word medieval writers used to mean none. In 24-hour mode, midnight's hour is also written N.
Twelve or twenty-four. In 12-hour mode midnight and noon both read XII, with ANTE MERIDIEM or POST MERIDIEM beneath (before or after midday). In 24-hour mode the hour runs from N to XXIII.
Reduced motion. If your device asks for reduced motion, the hands do not sweep. The clock updates once a minute, the second hand is hidden, and the sweep and tick options are switched off. Holding a time still works, and is a good way to study the face at your own pace.
Roman hours were not ours. The Romans divided daylight into twelve hours and the night into twelve more, so an hour in midsummer daylight was longer than one in midwinter. The even, sixty-minute hour on this face belongs to later mechanical clocks. Only the numerals are Roman.