Gregorio Perpetual Desk Calendar & Thermometer - 14 cm x 14 cm - Handcrafted in Italy - Pewter & Glass
As seen in the film Don Matteo, this gorgeous handcrafted pewter perpetual calendar and thermometer is a reverent reproduction of the ancient measuring instrument of yesteryear, bringing classicism and scholarship to your otherwise high speed digital day.
Buying as a gift? Why not make it even more special with our engraving service?
The date and month are demarcated using brass pegs, which allows an almost childlike glee when changing it daily - a brief, but simple, pleasure that one can replicate with each passing day. This quaint, but never twee, calendar looks great upon a desk, shelf, anywhere in fact where it can remind us to recognise, mark and celebrate another new day into perpetuity.
The thermometer uses the classic scale of Celsius, in reverence to the pioneering work in the 18th Century, of both Celsius and Cristin, formulating the classic 0 -100 degree scale we are all familiar with today.
A calendar year of 365 or 366 days can never be exactly equal to the solar year as the solar year, in fact, lasts 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 45 seconds. Over the centuries, attempts to bridge the "gap" between the solar year and the calendar year have created considerable confusion.
It seems that when Romulus was alive, in around the eighth Century B.C., the calendar year comprised of 304 days, divided into 10 months. The names of the months were similar to those of today, except for January and February, as they didn't exist!
July was originally called Quintilis, the 'fifth month', but it was later changed to Julius, in honour of Julius Caesar, who was born in that month, by the tribune, Mark Anthony, August was called Sextilis, the 'sixth month', and it was later changed by Julius Augustus due to the fact that he had won three victories and put an end to civil war during that month.
September, October, November and December were initially the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth months of the year. Legend has it that January and February were added by Numa Pompilius, who thus lengthened the year to 355 days. However, the difference of approximately ten and a half days between the solar year and his calendar caused a considerable disparity between the seasons and the calendar year.
In 46 B.C., Julius Caesar brought about a new reform. After making the Roman year 708 (46 B.C.) last 445 days, which he called the "ultimus annus confusionis" - it must have been! - he subsequently proposed that the year would last 365 days and that an extra day would be added every four years - what we now call a leap year. This led to the adoption of the 'Julian' calendar, and the year remained divided into 12 months.
Yet, the aim of matching the calendar year with the solar year had still not yet been perfectly achieved, as the solar year was about eleven minutes shorter than 365 and a quarter days. This small difference produces an extra day every 128 years, or approximately three days every 400 years. The Gregorian reform, which in turn led to the Gregorian calendar, established that the first year of each century that could not be divided by 400 was to be normal - in other words; not a leap year.
Following the implementation of the Gregorian reform, the errors that had accumulated in the past were corrected, in a truly radical manner; the day after Thursday 4th October 1582 became Friday 15th October, thereby jumping ten days - which would be extremely worrying if you had had a heavy night on that Thursday 4th! Following this crazy fast-forward, the Gregorian calendar was subsequently accepted.
Size: 14 cm x 14 cm
Weight: 300 g
Materials Used: Pewter, Glass
Ref: CT0089401
Designer: Enrico Cosi & Sergio Tabellini
100% Lead Free
All Cosi Tabellini Pewter is 100% lead-free, so it is totally food & drink safe, and is both EU and US FDA approved.
Packaging
Cosi Tabellini pieces come gift-boxed with a guarantee card and instructions on how to care for pewter.
