Help Find a Stolen Dial

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Published: 06 July 2011

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 If you look in the NASS Sundial Registry at Dial #617 from Ann Arbor Michigan you will see a lovely equatorial sundial on the grounds of the University of Michigan North Campus near the College of Engineering buildings.  The dial exists only as a photo and a memory.  Last April between the 13^th and 15^th it was stolen according to the Detroit Free Press.

The bronze equatorial dial has a circular nodus on the polar gnomon arrow to mark the seasons on the broad equatorial band. 

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Board Elects to Repair Sun City Sundial

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Published: 26 February 2011

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The Recreation Center Sun City (RCSC) Board of Directors has decided to repair the sundial monument at the corner of 103rd Avenue and Boswell Boulevard [in Sun City, Arizona].

At this time, it is impossible to know an exact repair cost until further inspection can be made below the surface. We do know that the three steel supports at the foundation must be repaired to restore the steel supports’ structural capacity to ensure further deterioration does not occur.

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Seiko Designs Equatorial Sundial Watch

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Published: 24 March 2024

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When is a watch not a watch? When it unfolds into an equatorial sundial.  The watch, designed by Yu Ishihara is called a "Watch Exclusively for Sunny Men" and was part of a contest sponsored by Seiko to "help reimagine what a watch can be", aimed at creativity and perhaps for eventual production. Read about it at https://www.seiko-design.com/powerdesignproject2024/en/sunnyman.html#modaal-box

The image at right was selected from a number of images of the Seiko "Sunny Men" watch to show the fall-winter-spring face rather than the common view of the spring-summer-fall face.  On either side is a longitude adjustment and as can be seen there is a bubble level for alignment.

No price was quoted.  It is a one of kind timepiece (at least for the present).  Watches of this class typically sell for $27,000.

Houston Pavilion - World's Largest Sundial

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Published: 14 July 2023

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A sundial or performance center or solar generator? It's all three. Called the Arco del Tiempo (Arch of Time), the design by Berlin architect Riccardo Mariano provides the projection of the sun's rays onto the ground through tinted glass apertures spanning the length of its arching ceiling. The elliptical shaped spots change every hour, telling "the solar time each day and delight visitors with a slowly evolving spectacle that bridges the terrestial and the celestion," said Land Art Generator, who commissioned the structure.  Mariano designed the arch as a pavillion with a photovoltaic skin to store energy for night-time illumination (equivalent to powering 40 average homes). During the day, it is billed as the "world's largest sundial". According to Ellen Eberhardt of DeZeen on-line magazine, "A combination of trichord truss arches, rub trusses, and purlins will support the tilted steel structure, which will be clad in a layer of galvanized metal decking and covered with custom-fabricated photovoltaic modules."

Eberhardt explains that,"The Arch of Time will serve as a "gateway" to Houston's Second Ward neighbourhood and will connect Guadalupe Plaza Park to Buffalo Bayou Park as a part of the city's ongoing initiative to provide greater access to greenspace and mitigate flooding through the design of urban parks."

The images are courtesy of Land Art Generator Initiative.

Read more at: https://www.dezeen.com/2023/07/13/worlds-largest-sundial-houston-riccardo-mariano-land-art-generator-initiative/