SY920 Wall Clock: a 54cm open-face dial and how it reads on a wall

The SY920 is the open-face one. It is a ∅54cm round dial with the face hollowed out behind the numerals, which is the whole design: instead of reading numbers off a solid disc, you read them off the wall. That one decision changes how you choose it, because the wall behind it is now part of the clock. The photographs and the full listing are on the SY920 Wall Clock page.

The figures, exactly as listed

One figure, and no depth. A ∅54cm dial is a large clock by domestic standards, so plan on about 15 to 20cm of clear wall all round and treat the space it occupies as closer to 90cm than 54. Over a sideboard or a sofa, furniture of roughly 140cm and up carries it comfortably. The listing does not give a projection from the wall, so if it is going somewhere people walk past closely, in a hallway or on a landing, ask us for that measurement.

The wall behind it is part of the design

This is the thing to get right, and it costs nothing to check. With the face hollowed out, whatever is behind the numerals shows through, so the clock looks quite different on a white wall, a dark wall and a panelled or papered wall.

• A pale, plain wall gives the most contrast and the easiest read at a distance. This is the safe choice.
• A dark wall keeps the outline but the numerals have less to sit against, so legibility across a room drops. Judge it from the photographs rather than from the description.
• Panelling or a strong pattern competes with the numerals directly. On slat panelling in particular, the vertical lines run straight through the open face.
• Dust and cleaning. An open face has more edges than a glazed one, so it collects more and wipes less easily. Somewhere you can reach is better than above a stairwell.

SY920 or SY921

These two are the same ∅54cm and the same open-face idea, and the listings separate them on the numerals. The SY921 Wall Clock is described as Roman numerals framing a hollowed-out face. The SY920 listing mentions its numerals without saying what style they are, so we cannot tell you from the listing alone whether they are Roman, plain or something else, and neither listing states the numeral colour or finish. That is the thing to check in the photographs, or ask us and we will confirm it with the supplier. If Roman numerals are what you are after, the SY921 is the one the listing actually commits to.

If you want something larger, the SY919 is ∅59cm with a black and silver face and internal cogs that the listing says turn on their own mechanism. Smaller, and the SY922 is ∅46cm with a printed map face. The rest sit in Clocks.

What the listing does not state

Worth naming, because none of it is there: the movement type and battery size, whether the second hand ticks or sweeps quietly, the weight, the depth from the wall, the fixing on the back, and the material the frame and numerals are made from. The description calls the styling industrial and the construction precise, but a style word is not a material. Ask us any of these and we will check with the supplier instead of guessing in print.

Before you order

• Tape a 54cm circle on the intended wall and look at it from the far side of the room.
• Check it against the wall colour and against anything patterned behind it.
• Make sure you can reach it to clean and to change a battery.
• Ask us about the fixing, the depth and the current lead time in one message.

Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond. When the wall is settled, order the SY920 Wall Clock, or send us a photograph of the wall and we will tell you whether the open face will read clearly against it.