Sunday, September 17, 2017

Zimmer Tower in Lier


Last week I visited the town Lier near Antwerp. In front of the Zimmer Tower a very impressive clock is build in. This clock is build by Louis Zimmer (1888-1970) and consist of one central clock with around 12 smaller once.


From top right (1 o'clock) to the left the smaller clocks show :
- the Metonic cycle, this is a 19 year cycle after which the different phases of the moon fall on the same date in the year
- the Equation of time, showing the difference in minutes between mean solar time and apparent solar time
- the Zodiac
- the Solar Cycle, this is a 28 year cycle after which the dates show up in the same order, the clock shows the current year of the cycle
- the dial shows the day of the week
- Globe with the rotation of the Earth
- the dial shows the month 
- Calender date
- the Seasons and this dial shows also the length of each season in days and hours
- the Tides by location in Lier
- the age of the moon since new moon 
- the real time phase of the moon 



On a other side of the Tower you can see a Sundial with the inscription "Ultima (hora) Latet", meaning "The last hour is hidden".