SY906: fitting a 50 x 50cm square mirrored clock to a wall

The SY906 is a square mirrored clock listed at 50 x 50cm, with a reflective face and a crushed diamond border. At 50 x 50cm it covers more wall than the other three related clocks in the clocks range, which makes it the one to reach for where a 40cm piece would look lost.

The four related clocks

The measurement people forget

A 50 x 50cm square has a diagonal of about 71cm. That figure never appears on a listing, and it is the one that decides whether the piece clears a sloping ceiling, a stair string or a corner. It also explains why a 50cm square feels considerably bigger on the wall than a 50cm circle, even though both measure 50cm across: the square is pushing into the corners the circle leaves empty. If you are choosing between the SY906 and the round SY905 for a measured space, compare 71cm against your tightest dimension.

Where a square suits better than a circle

• On a panelled or boarded wall, where the edges of the clock can line up with the lines already there. A circle fights a grid; a square joins it.
• In a group of frames or mirrors, hung as a grid or a column, where matching edges keep the arrangement tidy.
• Above a long, low piece such as a sideboard or a media unit, where a square echoes the rectangle below it.
• Beside a doorway or a window, where a square can take its horizontal line from the architrave or the head of the opening.

Tape the 50cm outline on the wall before drilling, then look at it from your seat rather than from arm's length. Over furniture, somewhere around 80cm to 110cm of width below a 50cm clock usually reads as the right proportion.

Light, sparkle and what the mirror shows

The listing describes a mirrored face that amplifies light through a room and a crushed diamond border adding sparkle and dimension, and calls it useful for brightening a darker corner. A dark corner, though, is exactly where a reflective border has the least light to catch, so give it something to work with: a lamp, a spotlight or daylight arriving across the wall rather than straight at it. Check what sits opposite as well, since the face is a mirror and will show it.

What the listing does not cover

• The type of movement, and whether it is battery powered.
• The weight, and whether a hanging fixing is supplied. Ask us, then match the fixing to plasterboard or masonry.
• The material of the crushed diamond border, which the listing describes only by how it looks.
• Whether the dial is glazed, and how the hours are marked. Neither is described, so go by the photographs.

The smaller and the rounder options

If 71cm of diagonal is too much, the SY901 is the same square at 40 x 40cm. For a softer outline at this scale, look at the SY905 or, for a different frame entirely, the SY907 with its teardrop crystal border. All of them sit with the mirrored pieces in mirrors and accessories.

Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond that.

Photographs, measurements and a question form are on the SY906 page.