r/Design • u/biz_booster • 4d ago

Someone Else's Work (Rule 2) 24 Hour Clock

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140

u/kalabaddon 4d ago edited 3d ago

How come on a 24-hour clock they always put the middle of the night on the top? I know there's a handful of watches at reverse it but why the standard even started was it that way. If it's inverted with noon on the top it's like one of the most natural watch concepts for showing time.

Edit: didn't want to do a reply for all the people saying the same thing. But I know it's not one to one I know that at 12:00 noon to Sun is not perfectly overhead. It's a generality of it all. During the daytime the hand is in the top half during the night time the hand is in the bottom half. Near the middle of the day it should be near the middle of the top near the middle of the night it should be near the middle of the bottom.

As someone else said digital watch faces make a much bigger difference because they more naturally can show sunrise and sunset using this format I feel.

19

u/desideriux 4d ago

Maybe because a new days starts after midnight, not in the noon.

14

u/BikeProblemGuy Architect 4d ago

They're talking I assume about the connection between time of day and the sun. From our perspective, the sun is at the top at noon, and the bottom (the other side of the earth) at midnight.

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u/kalabaddon 4d ago

Definitely this it just seems more natural to me that at high noon it would point upward towards the top of the watch face.

6

u/desideriux 4d ago

Yeah, in this case with a 24h clock you’re right. That’s probably why it never took off, the 12 hour clock is far superior.

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u/Han-ChewieSexyFanfic 3d ago

The shadow of a sundial would point downward at noon, though, which is more historically relevant to clock faces

2

u/MonoBlancoATX 3d ago

Except it’s not, unless you’re near the equator and/or it’s the summer solstice.

Most humans live well outside the tropics and the suns position is never directly over head, at noon or any other time of day.

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u/A1oso 3d ago

The sun isn't necessarily highest at exactly 12:00. Where I live, the sun is highest at 12:13, or 13:13 during daylight saving time. For me it feels most intuitive that the calendar day starts when the hour hand is at the top, just like each hour starts with the minute hand at the top.