Instrument 06 / time becomes position

Longitude Clock

Greenwich reference
Local apparent noon reading
0.00 degrees / Prime Meridian

Move the offset as if local solar noon occurred before or after noon at Greenwich. This demonstration does not determine your actual position.

Why this clock exists

John Harrison's marine timekeepers let sailors carry reliable reference time at sea. Comparing that clock with local solar noon turned an hour of difference into fifteen degrees of longitude. This instrument lets the same relationship move a ship across its chart. Accurate time had acquired a new purpose: it could answer not only when you were, but where, provided one clock remembered home.

Royal Museums Greenwich on Harrison's timekeepers