HELIOS Solar Ring II

HELIOS Solar Ring II - the original construction of the Farmer's Ring

After our HELIOS Solar Ring I with rotating pinhole (hole gnomon) has become a very popular instrument with our customers, we would now like to offer the more affordable HELIOS Solar Ring II with immovable hole gnomon. The HELIOS Solar Ring II goes back to the original construction of the farmers' ring from the 15th century, but has been improved by us in some important details, making it more accurate and easier to read. And even more, the solar ring is a piece of jewellery that can be worn around the neck or on the finger with the stainless steel chain that is included.

While most sundials determine the time of day from the direction of the sun, the solar ring uses the altitude of the sun to measure time. From sunrise the sun rises, reaches its highest point at noon (12 noon true solar time). This arc of the sun runs low or high in the sky, depending on the season, so that the date of the day is taken into account in the measurement.

To measure time, the solar ring is rotated around the vertical axis to the sun until the light passes through the pinhole aperture and the point of light projected by the sunlight appears inside. The point of light is positioned in the sign of the zodiac in which the sun is straight according to the date of the day. Then the true solar time is read off the time scale.

HELIOS Solar Ring II - technical information

The HELIOS Solar Ring II is finely turned and engraved in stainless steel. The hour scale inside is laser-marked.

The HELIOS Solar Ring II has been calculated for medium latitudes (50° N). If you want it to be exact, the solar ring can also be made as a unique piece for your own location. In this case, the HELIOS Solar Ring II Unikat receives an hour scale calculated for the latitude of the location. The latitude and the location are engraved. On request, it is also possible to inscribe your own name, a motto or a congratulation (approx. 3x 25 characters). When ordering, please enter your wishes in the comments field provided for this purpose, which appears during the ordering process. If you do not provide any details, the HELIOS Solar Ring II will be made unique for the delivery address you specify.

The HELIOS Solar Ring II custom-made can be produced for any location between 40° and 66° north or south latitude. With the unique ring, a date table is also printed in the instructions, with which one is able to convert the solar time read off the sun ring into Central European Time (CET).

The HELIOS Solar Ring is delivered with the pictured stainless steel chain (L=500mm) in a precious jewellery box with a finely structured black paper overlay. The enclosed instructions contain detailed, illustrated information on how to use the solar ring.

HELIOS Solar Ring II - the difference to Solar Ring I

In the HELIOS Solar Ring I, the rotation of the perforated gnomon improves the adaptation of the time scale to the seasonally dependent solar arc and ensures that the 12 noon point has no date dependency. In the HELIOS Solar Ring I, the fixed pinhole gnomon makes the time scale much wider and the 12 noon hour line is dependent on the date. However, we have simplified the positioning of the light point in the signs of the zodiac considerably, because the deflection is proportional to the date and not, as in conventional peasant rings, proportional to the declination of the sun. The latter leads to the fact that the zodiacal regions become increasingly narrow towards the solstices.

With conventional farmer's rings, the extension of the light path from the pinhole to the time scale due to the deflection from the centre is often ignored, which leads to not inconsiderable inaccuracies. This necessary correction is included in the calculation for all HELIOS Solar Rings.