Strange Clocks

Polar Clock

Time as growing arcs

How to read it

  1. Each ring is one unit, from the outside in: seconds, minutes, hours, day of the month and month of the year.

  2. Arcs grow clockwise starting from 12 o'clock.

  3. When an arc closes into a full circle, its cycle is complete and it starts again from zero.

  4. The outer green ring shows the seconds in the app; the widget leaves it out.

The story

Popularized in 2007 by the PolarClock screensaver, this design replaces hands with concentric arcs that fill up as each unit of time completes.

Year
2007
Place
The web
Creator
pixelbreaker

Fun fact

With no numbers anywhere, you read time by proportion — like progress bars for your day, month and year.

Learn to read time again.

iPhone and iPad only.

Download on the App Store