The clock
How the time looks, and how it flips
Switch between 12 and 24 hours
- Move the mouse over the clock. Three round buttons appear in the bottom-right corner: click the gear to open Settings.
- On the Clock tab, turn 24-hour clock on or off. You can also press H.
The clock starts in the format your language usually uses. Once you choose, your choice stays, even if you change the language.
In 12-hour mode, AM or PM is written small inside the last minute card. In a few languages whose words do not fit there, it sits under the clock instead.
Show the seconds
Turn on Seconds on the Clock tab, or press S. Two more cards appear for the seconds.
Change what sits between the hours and minutes
On the Clock tab, Separator offers A gap, a Blinking colon or a Steady colon.
Clock and board taking turns
The first setting on the Board tab, Show, decides what the screen shows: the clock and the full board taking turns (Clock and board), the Clock only, or the Board only. The full board is explained in The ticker and the board.
Choose how the digits flip
Type Clock flips in the Settings search box. The choices are:
| Choice | What happens |
|---|---|
| No animation | The numbers change without flipping. The ticker and the board stop flipping too. |
| Only the digit | Only the digit that changes flips. |
| Every hour | Only the digit that changes flips, and on the hour the whole clock turns over. This is the default, and it also helps protect the screen. |
| Every minute | Every minute, all the digits flip. |
Roll length on the clock sets how far a digit travels: One flip goes straight to the new number, Short roll rolls through the numbers before it lands.
To turn the hours and minutes over yourself, click the clock or press R.
Use the timer
The Clock tab has a timer that counts down on the clock itself. Choose from 1 to 99 minutes and press Start. You can pause it and reset it.
- While it runs, the time it ends shows above the clock, for example TIMER · ends 17:23, and a stop button joins the buttons that appear when you move the mouse.
- At 00:00 the clock stays on 00:00 until you reset it. If Sound is on, it clicks three times.
- The timer keeps the right time if the computer sleeps, but it stops if you close FlipMatic.
Where the time comes from
FlipMatic shows your computer's time, in its time zone. There is no second time zone. If the computer wakes from sleep or its clock changes, FlipMatic catches up within about a second.