The term ‘Anthropocene’ alludes to processes and timescales that, in turn, affect the processes and timing of life cycles across ecologies and environments. Human time standards tend to obscure this, creating a sense of humans as a sovereign species external to and dominating of the environment rather than one being inexorably entwined in it. The unfolding ecological and climate crises highlight how fundamentally flawed this view is and how vital it is that we collaborate with rather than dominate our environments. The research-through-design timepiece described here offers a measure of time that foregrounds an environmental cue that we not only share with life on earth but that is foundational for all life. It makes visible the daily rhythms of light and dark as well as our planet’s movement around our star—a process that brings into view periods that range from days, months and years to millennia and aeons.