Show me calendars and clocks

March 4, 2009 11:04 AM

Calendars and clocks. I need calendars and clocks. Show me calendars and clocks.

I'd like to see calendars and clocks that slice up time in different ways. I've looked at the wikipedia pages for the two and a bunch of other links. Variety appreciated, any time period, any culture or country. I don't mean software solutions like Google Calendar, I mean things like the Julian calendar vis-a-vis the Gregorian etc. Thanks!

posted by sidr to education (12 answers total)

The Calendar Zone is a slightly dated (heh) but good place to start.

The Calendar FAQ has insanely detailed descriptions of a few alternative systems. You want to dazzle your friends with a description of the Metonic cycle? Look there.
posted by adamrice at 11:19 AM on March 4, 2009

You can't go wrong with the Mayan calendar.
posted by misha at 11:24 AM on March 4, 2009

ThinkGeek tends to have some weird timepiece options:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/lights/a7c5/
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/watches/6a17/
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/watches/5cf4/?cpg=ab
http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/lights/59e0/
posted by LSK at 11:31 AM on March 4, 2009

I always thought that the Prague Astronomical Clock was pretty cool.
posted by JuiceBoxHero at 11:31 AM on March 4, 2009

The Corpus Clock has got to be one of the most unique and coolest clocks ever made.It is gigantic, gold plated, and has a big grasshopper on top, called a "chronophage" that eats up the time as it goes by. BBC says it's only accurate once every five minutes.

This page has a really good video of it with really cool closeups (especially the second half).
posted by brenton at 11:45 AM on March 4, 2009

Foucault's pendulum
posted by sanko at 11:46 AM on March 4, 2009

Timekeeping, navigation, and astronomy, are the same thing. You can't have one without the others. You can't work out one if you don't know the others.

Hence navigation instruments (sextants, compasses, GPS etc) can all be used to find the time. (Likewise, timekeeping instruments can be used to find your location, or to orient you astronomically, and so on.)

So in a sense, an Orerry gets to the source of timekeeping.
posted by -harlequin- at 11:56 AM on March 4, 2009

Word Clock screensaver
Polar Clock screensaver
posted by blastrid at 12:29 PM on March 4, 2009

I've got a twofer: the French Republican Calendar, a failed attempt by post-revolutionary France to impose metric regularity on both the calendar and clock. Ten months in a year, ten weeks in a month, ten days to a week, each with 10 hours divided into 100 minutes with 100 seconds, with multiple "feast days" to make up the remainder. The names they used for the months -- and the nicknames the British jokingly gave them -- are a treat.
posted by Rhaomi at 12:34 PM on March 4, 2009 [2 favorites]

Sorry, I fudged some of the numbers there. The real amounts were: 12 months, each with three ten-day weeks.
posted by Rhaomi at 12:42 PM on March 4, 2009

The Long Now Foundation's 10,000 Year Clock
posted by odinsdream at 1:28 PM on March 4, 2009

Creative Calendar Designs at Smashing Magazine and the site also has a monthly calendar feature.

Here's the one for March.
posted by backwards guitar at 1:41 PM on March 4, 2009