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The joke of a wrist-worn sundial is probably as old as the
sundial. But this has not
deterred MaxCo. - we laugh in the face of old jokes.
The MaxCo. Wrist Sundial has a case hewn from living
granite, which conceals an
intricate and sophisticated mechanism. Engraved on the
face are the
usual twelve
Roman numerals.
The periphery of the dial contains light sensors which
can ascertain the current direction
of the sun, relative to the wearer's wrist. The act of
raising one's forearm and rotating
the wrist slightly towards the face, is detected by a set
of motion sensors, triggering two
events. First, a miniature bronze gnomon springs up out
of the face of the watch.
Second, the entire face of the watch rotates to bring the
correct point under the
gnomon's shadow, indicating the correct time to within
five or ten minutes.
In the event that the sun is not visible, the watch relies
instead on the strongest artificial
light source. In the event that there are no artificial
light sources, it doesn't matter
because you won't be able to see the watch.
Fred Flintstones version
https://www.google....-w&biw=1000&bih=644 This is the prior art. [popbottle, Aug 01 2015]
[link]
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<does old-style facepalm [metacarpals to forehead]>
<gets old-fashioned poke in the eye> |
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I'll wait for the model with the lighted dial for night time. |
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This would of course be useless in wales, as apart from the fact that artificial sources of illumination are unknown there, the area is reknowned as The Place Upon Which The Sun Does Not Shine. And that's not just due to the ever-present lowering rainclouds, either. |
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Getting it to display a time and date 5000 years before the present will also be tricky. |
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If the sky was cloudy, then the light sensors could use the polarisation of the diffuse light from the sky to orient the device. I would also like a second outer bezel showing civil time, i.e. which rotated independently to indicate equation-of-time and time-zone and daylight-saving-time offset. |
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