It is a sad reality that, despite having the potential to do so, sundials rarely tell the correct time. That is until Gunning Sundials rectified this age old anomaly with the production of:

The Classic Horizontal Sundial & the Heliochronometer

A HELIOCHRONOMETER is the acme of sundials. It is only the heliochronometer that gives a direct and accurate reading of Standard Time throughout the sunlit year. To a greater or lesser extent, all other sundials fall short of this capability. Most will only reflect accurate time on four days of the year. By comparison, the Heliochronometer is ‘right’ every day and stands a fair chance of being more accurate than your watch. Clocks and watches, by their very nature, can only keep time whilst sundials determine it. And the unique capability of the Heliochronometer is that it determines it precisely to the minute.

A hundred years ago, heliochronometers were being used to set the times of civic clocks, to run the railways and to control several other time sensitive operations. Sadly the introduction in 1913, of the radio time signal spelt the death knoll to this successful commercial enterprise.

After a gap of eighty years, and now with rather more emphasis on it being both an attractive garden adornment and a precision timepiece, Gunning Sundials have produced the latest variant in a historical but rare line of heliochronometers. It combines modern brass manufacturing methods with age old techniques in order to ensure the accurate conversion of solar time to standard (or watch) time. The result is a handsome, precision instrument certain to be a constant source both of admiration and of conversation in the garden.

EACH CLASSIC HORIZONTAL DIAL offers opportunity for buyers to incorporate their own inscriptions. The positioning of these is within the diamond shaped square at the centre of the dial plate (See photograph in the Gallery). In essence there is room for three statements, most conveniently each in two halves and in sites selected in the top two sides of the diamond, in the bottom two sides of the diamond and across the centre of the diamond. Typical permutations for these statements are usually drawn from some combination of:-

The latitude and longitude
Two elements of the owner’s address
Two names or sets of initials
A motto, in two, four or possibly three words. In English, Latin, Greek, etc
Special events or anniversaries
Dates, perhaps in Roman numerals and associated with names or events
Or any other statement which you wish

Attached to the Classic Horizontal Order Form is a full scale diagram of the relevant portion of the Dial Plate. The sites available for customised engraving are clearly marked as: a/aa b/bb c/cc. Please use these to submit your requirements or to discuss your ideas by phone or e-mail.

classic horizontal