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The world as seen from Paris in 1800

2007-09-14 12:41

In the Musée des arts et métiers in Paris you can see this clock, a Cadran Universel made by Janvier in 1800:

L1000831_2

This has a fixed outer dial containing a series of towns and cities around the world, arranged according to their longitude. Paris is at the top at 0 degrees (and London has been squeezed in as small as possible just above it and to the right, not yet at 0 degrees longitude!).

cadran-world-enlarge1

This circular list of geographic locations gives an intriguing picture of the world as seen from Paris in 1800. I’ve put together a quick list of a few of the places mentioned, with the Paris-based and my estimates of the London-based longitudes, to see how many can be identified:

7.5 (5.5) Gibraltar ESPA - Gibraltar
15.0 (13.0) I Lancerote Can. - Lanzarote
22.5 (20.5) Hola ISLANDE - ?
30.0 (28.0) Thule T’AUST - Thule Islan (Morrell Island) in South Sandwich Islands
37.5 (35.5) Olinde Bresil - Olinda, Brazil
45.0 (43.0) Rio Janeiro Br
52.5 (50.5) Para ?? AM.
60.0 (58.0) I Burgeo - Bridgetown, Barbados
67.5 (65.5) C de la Reselution
75.0 (73.0) La Conception A M
82.5 (80.5) Fanal & Savanna
90.0 (88.0) N Orleans
97.5 (95.5) Vera-Cruz
105.0 (103.0) Zacalula ? Tamazula in Mexico?
112.5 (110.5) S Joseph CALIF - San Jose ?
120.0 (118.0) I. S. Paul
127.5 (125.5) C. Flatterie - Cape Flatterie, near Seattle
135.0 (133.0) I Pitcairn - Pitcairn Island
142.5 (140.5) I Cumberland
150.0 (148.0) I Milea . Ounab
157.5 (155.5) ? - obscured by the hands
165.0 (163.0) ? - obscured by the hands
172.5 (170.5) I de Navigateurs

Conspicuous by their absence are most of the major US cities. In 1800, these were either unimportant or deliberately ignored, apart from New Orleans and Savannah.

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World clock animation

2006-07-02 12:30
Here's a snapshot of a lovely animated version of the 'earth as a clock' idea that is explored in the design section of this site. The Canadian company called this is it who produced this have also constructed a real 24 hour clock, which you can see on their site.
thisisit
The earth rotates anticlockwise (what we Brits call counterclockwise). Unusually the animation has adopted to use the 12 hour time system.

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World clock Dashboard widget

2005-12-06 17:17
If you're running MacOS X Tiger, take a look at this neat Dashboard widget.
simpleworldclockwidget
The earth moves anticlockwise, as of course it really does... You can get it at DashboardWidgets.com.

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World clock

2005-05-10 13:42
The manufacture of 24 hour analog clocks featuring a map of the world continues to this day. You can see more historical examples on the History page, and there's more analysis on the Design page.
worldclock_2001_this_is_it
From MoCoLoCo, via The Map Room.

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