Two Hour Hands

Here’s a solution to the problem of diddling with clocks when Daylight Saving Time begins and ends. Put *TWO* hour hands on the clock. The normal, typically black, hand for Sun-based Standard Time, and a green (or any color) hand set one hour ahead for Daylight Saving Time.

Black hour hand = Standard Time. Green hour hand = Daylight Saving Time. According to Sun-based Standard Time, it’s almost two o’clock. For fans of Daylight Saving Time, it’s almost 3pm.

During the winter, with Standard Time in effect, everyone pays attention to the black hand. During the summer, for Daylight Saving Time, or Summer Time, whatever we call it, everyone pays attention to the green hand. No one ever has to take the wall clock down from the wall to fiddle with tiny knobs in back, or tap digital buttons at random until they accidentally figure out how to change the hour +1 or -1.

Don’t like the sun setting at 6pm? Look at the green hand, it’s 7pm!

One fine winter morning, when DST is in effect, don’t like that the Sun is rising at 8am? Look at the black hand — it’s only 7am! Or maybe add a purple hand one hour before the Standard Time black hour hand, then looking at that hour hand, it’s only 6am!

The two hands can be the same physical part turning on one axle.

Using clocks like this may help people to understand that clocks don’t define time, but merely give names to points of time throughout the day. What we call “4 o’clock” is a matter of convention, and we can always fiddle with the clock setting or adopt different…