Celestial Desktop Timekeepers

Pinpoint the time by looking to the heavens with one of two desktop-sized historical clock replicas. The Astronomical Ring Dial is a 17th-century spherical sundial, while the Nocturlabe is based on a 16th-century artifact on display at the British Museum in London. Each brass-dipped, hanging instrument offers an analog method of establishing the current time. The Astronomical Rings use your position in relation to the sun to cast a ray of light through the device onto its timekeeping dials. When darkness falls, the Nocturlabe determines the hour and minute by aligning with stars found in the Big Dipper and Little Dipper. Vanished from use after the late 18th century, these working reproductions offer a link to our technological past and the spirit of transoceanic exploration.