50 years ago, science fiction came true: In July 1969, Neil Armstrong was the first human being to set foot on the moon. This groundbreaking event also inspired the clockmaking industry. The company Helbros made a clock which indicates “lunar time“.
But how does time pass on the moon? Like on earth, the sun rises and sets, but a “lunar day” takes a bit more than 29.5 earth days. It was not possible to represent this reasonably in the conventional way, with the usual hands of the clock. This is why Helbros divided the lunar day into 30 sections, the “Lunes”, each of which takes about 23.5 hours. The “Lunes” were split up further, with one “Lune“ consisting of 24 “Lunours“.
Yet, this doesn’t tell us anything about the perception of time on the moon. Astronaut Eugene Cernan said in this respect: “I’ve seen how time passes on earth. But on the moon, time didn’t affect us in the same we usually understand it.”
Helbros Lunar Time, PUW Pforzheim 1970, Inv. 2018-054.