5.0 out of 5 stars Great decorative value but not a practical working instrument

a. · 21 March 2022

This portable sundial is beautifully made and amazing value for money (£12.99|) given that it appears to be made of solid brass. It makes a great mantelshelf decoration – however it is not a practical instrument to use. The two main defects in this respect are that the compass is undamped (it needs a liquid or a thick aluminium ring to damp it) and the shadow of the pointer (gnomon) is invisible on the shiny brass ring scale– it needs to be painted over which would spoil it.There are no instructions. To release the compass needle there is a catch on the side and another catch can be used to stop the needle oscillating if used carefully. The instrument should be rotated until the end of the compass needle with the red dot points to north on the scale. Ideally allowance should be made for magnetic variation but this is small in much of the UK. The gnomon and the latitude scale are hinged and should be set upright. The device needs to be set by tilting the time scale and gnomon to your latitude as the gnomon must be parallel to the earth’s axis – in particular it will be horizontal at the equator. I do not think it can be used in the southern hemisphere. The highest latitude this device can be used at is 60 degrees north which covers the UK. The time marks on the scale should have been calibrated to take account of the angle between the gnomon and the scale.I would give it two stars as a working instrument because of the above-mentioned shortcomings but five stars because of its decorative value for money.N.B. Sundials give local time. They do not allow for differences between local time and standard time in the country concerned. (GMT or BST in the UK) There are three possible differences. The largest difference in summer is the one hour which needs to be added in summer to local time. In addition the length of a local day varies throughout the year because the earth’s orbit is elliptical rather than circular. Standard time assumes a fixed average day length. The difference is up to a maximum of plus or minus 15 minutes and can be found by looking up the Equation of Time. Finally there is a correction for the difference between the local longitude and the longitude for which standard time is given – zero degrees in the UK. The difference is 4 minutes per degree of longitude and so can amount to 25 minutes in Britain.

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure Quality,

V.C. · 30 April 2024

I did not realise how good the sun dial was,until it needed cleaningonly then did the penny drop.not only can 2 parts pivot, so you can polish it uBut its so easy to take completely apart and clean.Its Accuracy, I can't really give any feed-backbut it looks great.Ta India.Nautical.Handcraft.vcr

4.0 out of 5 stars Not quite what I ordered

d. · 29 January 2023

I ordered 4" brass compass/sundial........what I got was 3" version which was posted through letter box!!As you can imagine i was a little bit disappointed at this smaller than advertised piece. Having said that it is a nice piece and I am going to keep it as it is well worth the 20quid and only lost a few stars because of its smallness. PS would not rely on compass to get me home, pointer has a mind of its own!!

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful

M.D. · 30 August 2018

This is well made and well worth buying. It looks really classy. I had to ask for instructions to set it up and they arrived really quickly so good service as well. Here are the instructions if you decide to buy one!First put your sundial on a flat surface & release the magnetic needle when it stop move the compass dial north under the redpoint, you compass is in correct direction. Now open the arc which is fitted on the sundial , the sun shade falls on the sundial you can see the approx time by this. It is same copy of sundial which was invented in 1890s so if you compare the time to your watch it will be not same there will be little difference because it is a antique item

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice ornament, how to set up is another question

T.D. · 12 May 2025

Nice to look at, but did not come with any alignment instructions to actually set it up.

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful piece

A. · 12 May 2017

The craftsmanship of this item is amazing for the price. The finish is mirror-perfect without a single flaw or blemish. There are no rough edges or burrs, the embossing crisp, and the moving parts firm and precise. The reflection off the polished surface of the time-ring can make it a little hard to read the shadow. Only criticism is that this arrived without instructions and the use of the elevation protractor threw me a little. However, the supplier sent me the necessary leaflet in an immediate response to my email.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great

b.C. · 26 June 2025

Great

1.0 out of 5 stars Could've been a really nice gift

A.C. · 28 November 2018

It arrived fast which was nice, and it seemed fairly well packaged, some bubble wrap around it and paper in the box itself to stop it moving around. When unwrapping it appeared fairly solid and incredibly pretty. But that's where the good things kinda stopped. The glass over the compass had a huge crack across its diameter, like the item was dropped and the compass needle was loose and unstable meaning it didn't actually work as it should. The red on the needle was definitely drawn on with what looks like felt tip, and there were numerous scratches over the sundial markings too, which makes me think it was poorly stored before shipping out as there's no way those kinds of scratches would have happened through the bubble wrap it was in. Overall, very disappointed. It had the makings of something really unique and lovely but obviously wasn't quality control checked before sending out. This was supposed to be a gift for a friend but I seriously wouldn't be able to give it to them in that condition, so I will be returning. If you order this product, be prepared to try a few times to get a good quality one.

Un precioso objeto decorativo con una excelente relación calidad / precio.

A.P.M. · 3 March 2025

¡Excelente producto! ¡Excelente relación calidad precio! Muy bien embalado. Envío rapidisimo.¡Muy hermoso, muy solido y muy bien terminado, aunque no sirva para nada,!Es simplemente un objeto decorativo muy vistoso y muy bien acabado.El diseño del artefacto está copiado de un modelo de Reloj de Sol Horizontal para ser usado en la Latitud de Londres: 51° 30'N, aunque puede ser usado en otras latitudes si se le da la inclinación correspondiente por medio la escala desplegable de colatitudes, que está en un lateral del aparato. (Colatitud = 90° – Latitud).Es una pena que la brújula tenga la rosa de los vientos pegada de la manera que mejor le haya parecido al montador, a quien posiblemente nadie le ha dado instrucciones de como montarla correctamente orientada y digo que es una lastima, porque si se hubiera montado correctamente, lo cual no habría encarecido su coste de producción, sería una brújula totalmente funcional.El diseño de este aparato, inservible salvo en Londres, está repetido por igual en todos los aparatos similares que se venden por Internet , por lo que no se puede culpar al vendedor, del mal diseño, porque que simplemente el fabricante se ha limitado a hacer este aparato copiándolo de otros aparatos existentes en el mercado, sin tener ni idea de lo que copiaba ni para que servía lo que copiaba.Un mérito para el distribuidor es que vende un producto muy bien terminado a muy buen precio.Si uno está dispuesto a arriesgarse a que se le pueda romper, puede desmontarlo y construirse con los mismos materiales con el que está hecho este aparato, un Reloj de Sol Ecuatorial verdaderamente funcional y bien hecho, porque todas las piezas están ahí, solo hace falta montarlas de la manera correcta.Eso es lo que he hecho yo, a partir de un artilugio muy bonito pero inservible, he montado con sus piezas un Reloj de Sol Ecuatorial, totalmente funcional.Para ello solo he tenido que modificar el Gnomon, despegar y volver a montar bien la rosa de los vientos de la brújula, y colocarla en la dirección correcta y grabar en la cara posterior del dial, que estaba diafana, un Reloj de Sol Ecuatorial bien hecho, en lugar de un Reloj de Sol Horizontal utilizable únicamente en la Latitud de Londres, que era para la que para la que estaba hecho este Reloj.¡Todas las piezas me han servido!Repito: ¡Un buen producto con una excelente relación calidad / precio!

Very nice quality

H.L.C. · 15 September 2021

This is a nice item for the ones that are interested in old style geographical and nautical items. Seems to work as intended even if my main interest is to have it in my collection of interesting pieces to display and talk about. Fast delivery with nothing to complain about.

Davvero molto bella!

S. · 15 December 2024

Sono rimasto davvero contento, oggetto ben fatto e che supera le mie aspettative. Il Nord lo punta, ha un blocco per il trasporto ed è davvero molto grande, perfetta per osservarne i particolari. Le foto pubblicate parlano da sole. Peccato manchi una confezione in legno, sarebbe stato il top! Perfetto l'imballaggio e la consegna nei tempi previsti. Super consigliata anche per un regalo.

Damaged

E. · 28 June 2023

Product came with minor damage and scratches

Beautiful piece

J.Y. · 20 September 2023

Better than hoped, lovely piece