What Are Sundials and How Do They Work?

Sundials are something truly special and can be far more interesting than a regular wall clock for indoor living spaces. A sundial adorns outdoor areas such as a balcony, terrace, or garden and is a very special outdoor clock – but how does it work?

This is how a sundial works!

A sundial uses the position of the sun in the sky to show the time of day. Most often, the pointer is the line-shaped shadow of a rod. During the day, the rod’s shadow rotates across the dial, which is marked with hours. The variety of sundials is based primarily on the different shapes and orientations of the dial. The most common version is the vertical sundial with a flat dial, often mounted on a building wall.

Sundials have been in use since antiquity and were still usually meant at the beginning of the 19th century when people spoke of clocks. Until the beginning of the 20th century, they were still used, limited to showing noon (so-called noon indicators), to adjust the still too inaccurate mechanical clocks. Today, they often serve only as decoration on buildings, in gardens, and in parks.

Sundials are also outdoor and garden clocks

The sundials in our shop come from Sunshine Garden and are all made of rust-free stainless steel, which is very durable and therefore remains in perfect condition for years. For this reason, these clocks are automatically also outdoor clocks and garden clocks, because they meet all the associated criteria.

We show you two clocks, one for mounting on the house wall and the other for placing on the ground.

Sunshine Garden Millenium Globe has a long base and a semi-hollow sphere. The Roman numerals in it have been laser-cut out. All parts, screws, and connections are made of rust-free stainless steel.

The Sunshine Garden S1 wall sundial has a flat dial that is mounted directly on the house wall. The Roman numerals for reading the time have been arranged in a semicircle.