Extremely rare EQ Assam sundial from 1718, a so-called "ring clock" or "peasant's clock", which was worn around the neck in the field.
and could display the time on a rough scale using a sliding mechanism and a hole based on the incident sun rays; I suspect it is a facsimile replica from the 19th century.
Diameter without holding device: 3cm, slider with eyelet functional and operational, base material unknown
The base material was clearly silver-plated; the silvering is partially preserved over large areas, while in other areas it is also extensively missing (see photos). Presumably, this artifact and piece of (sundial) clock history is many decades old, perhaps even over 100 years old, but as I said, I don't believe it's the original from 1718.
The integrated sliding ring is functional.
The peasant's ring (also: simple sun ring or simple ring sundial) is a sundial worn on the finger or, in a larger version, on a chain around the neck. It has been known since the 15th century ( Regiomontanus ).
Its dial is located on the inner surface of the ring. The pointer is the image of the sun, created through a hole in the ring. To read the time of day, the season ( declination of the sun) must be known. The inner surface of the ring is additionally marked with declination lines for this purpose. These are circles around the ring's axis.
To read the time, the farmer's ring is hung by its outer eyelet and rotated around the vertical so that the spot of light falls on the valid declination circle.
A farmer's ring or simple sun ring can only ever be used at one pole altitude or one latitude .
Newer versions consist of two concentric rings. The ring with the hole is adjusted against the main ring according to the season (month scale), and the time of day is read on a year-round hour scale. Because this simplified method is not entirely precise, a rough scale consisting only of hour numbers is used.
