Gonon
/ˈɡɒnɒn/, from Greek gōnia (angle, vertex). That which reveals through angles.
No numerals. No handedness. Readable in a mirror, in zero gravity, in any language. A clock that encodes time as geometry so the shape itself is the reading.
reading
live
60 bpm tick audio locks to each second edge.
decode
outer ring to inner, left to right
24h arc --.-% of day elapsed
--
Count the vertices on each ring. The count is the digit; the ring is its place.
set time
--:--:--live
key
Each digit becomes a polygon, and the number of vertices is the digit. Marks show which rings use a shape right now.
- 0empty
- 1point
- 2line
- 3triangle
- 4square
- 5pentagon
- 6hexagon
- 7heptagon
- 8octagon
- 9nonagon
- Minute and second tens polygons turn 90° from the ones, so a lone ones 1 never lands on a tens edge (e.g. :31).
- A lone tens 1 sits at 9 o’clock on every unit, so 10, 11 and 12 read the same way.
- Sparse digits keep faint sockets: empty reads as 0, one filled socket as 1, and a filled pair joined by a chord as 2.
principle
Orientation-independent. A triangle is a triangle whether you're upside down, looking in a mirror, or floating in microgravity. There is no “right way up” for a polygon. No reading direction. No cultural prerequisite. Turn or mirror the face above: vertex counts don't change, so the reading doesn't either.
Six concentric rings carry the six digits of HH:MM:SS. Hours hold the outer frame (they change least), seconds tick at the center (they change most). Within each pair the tens digit sits on the outer ring and the ones digit on the inner, so reading outward matches reading left to right.
A single arc sweeps clockwise from midnight at the top through the full day, on the same circle as the hour ones ring. How much arc has been traced tells you where you are in the day without reading a single digit.
The name. A gnomon (Greek: one who knows) is the stick on a sundial that reveals time through shadow. A gonon, from Greek gōnia (angle, vertex), reveals time through angles.
Building a clock with no numerals the design notes, 8 min read
| ring | r | r / 2 vs next ring in |
|---|---|---|
| h tens | 192 | max digit is 1 |
| h ones | 178 | 89 > 88 |
| m tens | 88 | 44 > 43 |
| m ones | 43 | 21.5 > 21 |
| s tens | 21 | 10.5 > 7.5 |
| s ones | 7.5 | innermost |
The tightest packing that keeps any digit combination from crossing into the next ring, checked across all 86,400 seconds of the day.