Hello Gianni, As I see it, there would be no difference in the mechanism or dial of a mechanical clock for Italian or French hours. Both are 24 equal hours. The only difference is when you start the 24 hour cycle. French hours start at midnight, Italian hours at sunset. The time of sunset shifts on a daily basis but resetting the clock at the reference sunset time would be a easy normal activity, no different than using a noon mark or meridian to set a clock for French hours.
Roger Bailey -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Gianni Ferrari Sent: August 21, 2006 11:16 AM To: Frank King Cc: LISTA INGLESE Subject: Re: Dials Hello Frank, you write "Unfortunately, there seem to be only two people in the world who are interested in Italian-hours clocks! " I think that the reason for the small dimension of this group is caused to the fact that, in my opinion, the Italian-hours clocks have never existed :-) In a long discussion on the Italian List (December 2002) on the mechanical Italian-hours clocks, I, completely ignorant, asked a question that now I repeat: <What are the differences from a mechanical "Italian-hours clock" and a " Not-Italian-hours clock" ? > Always in my opinion a clock with 4 ,6, 12, 24 hours is only a mechanism to mark the time, dividing it in equal parts, without other possible specifications. A clock can always be used for marking a whatever kind of equal hours, as it is also shown by the fact that all the Italian tower clocks were transformed from Italic to French hours after the Napoleonic empire. Another question: the watchmakers built mechanically different clocks if they had to send them in Italy, and if they had to send them in Germany or in France ? Best Gianni --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
