Message text written by Tony Moss >The orientation of Roman numerals on vertical dials is generally decided by the fact that the dial is read from below. For horizontal dials however it seemed natural to me that Roman numerals *looked* best when read from the inside outwards i.e. when looking at the dial from its southern side (northern hemisphere). XII, XI, X, IX and I, II. III, and IIII read locate satifactorily in either direction but V, VI and VII have 'V' elements which radiate outwards and benefit from the extra space at the outer serif circle. Placed the other way with tops towards the centre of the dial makes for a visually 'tight' situation - especially in smaller dials with less space to spare.
I just wondered if anyone else would wish to share their thoughts on the subject as it seems that the 'traditional' orientation is the reverse of my personal preference.< This is an interesting topic for me because as Registrar of BSS I have to enter the various distinguishing features of dials that have been found by our Members. I have recently taken to remarking on the arrangements of the numerals where the appearance looks different from the norm. Sadly with over 4000 dials of all types I cannot easily put in comments for all dials! Internally viewable numerals (and other 'different' arrangements!) are a feature that is more commonly found with vertical dials where I would guess the different arrangements occur more or less with equal regularity. However I haven't done a check. In horizontal dials though there is most definitely a bias to arranging Roman numerals to be read from the outside - a rather quick statistical estimate made by me just now by looking through 174 horizontal dial photos in the BSS Register (an estimate which is however flawed by the fact that some photos did not permit an observation of the numeral arrangement!) indicates that as few as 11% of dials have internally viewed numerals. Even allowing (say) a factor two - a likely overestimate in my view - for those dials whose photos do not permit an observation we can, I think, say that only about a quarter of horizontal dials are engraved with internally viewed numerals. It is a topic that might bear further analysis since you see several old dials and dials by famous makers (like Melvin) with internally viewed numerals as well as new ones. I agree with you that the internal arrangement generally looks better - if for no other reason than that it facilitiates reading the dial from the South looking North which, for me, is the way I often find myself looking first at a dial. However, maybe I am just wierd! Regards Patrick
