Pocket Sundial

Thomas Tucher (or Ducher) belonged to an important family of clockmakers working in Nuremburg in the 16th and 17th centuries. The sun clock has two flaps once joined by 5 small rings (now ruined). Each face serves a couple of functions. The top face has a wind rose and a converter between the Italian and Greek ways of keeping the times of the day, as well as a hole to see through to the underlying compass. The uppermost inner face has a clock for the Italian hours of 14 to 24 accompanied by the signs of the zodiac and a list of 16 cities with their relative latitudes. The lower inner face has the compass visible through the upper cover and two bronze disk: for the Italian hours from 10 to 22 and for the Greek hours from 1 to 14. The back side has a scale for relating the lunar to the solar years of the Julian and Gregorian calendars and a wheel chart to calculate the corrispondence between the day and night hours. Probably purchased by the brothers Fausto and Giuseppe at the end of the 19th century, the sun clock is still displayed--as are all other objects in the museum--in its original place, thus contributing to the authentic "time capsule" ambiance.