Yaesu built radios, not clocks. The Tokyo firm has equipped amateur radio operators since the 1950s, and this clock existed for one reason. When you are talking to the world, you need to know what time the world thinks it is. The city ring carries every zone from Greenwich to Auckland, the inner ring splits the day into light and dark, and the orange DATE LINE marker sits exactly where yesterday becomes tomorrow. It sat beside transceivers through decades of late-night contacts.

Someone punched the name TILSON onto red tape and pressed it to the back, the way you label a thing you expect to see again. The battery movement runs on a fresh cell, keeping honest time the way it always has. Wire stand for the desk, keyhole for the wall. Made in Japan, marked so on the dial.