What does an hourglass tattoo on the hand mean? Clock tattoo – meaning and designs for girls and men

By depicting a watch on their body, many people strive to leave in memory some important moment of their life. This could be a moment of spiritual enlightenment or long weeks of prolonged depression, exciting moments of inspiration or long moral torment. Be that as it may, the tattooed watch will remain a reminder of what really mattered or matters to you.

Inevitability

A very popular interpretation of a clock tattoo is the inevitability of death, the transience of life. The clock hands run in circles, and every day slips away like sand through your fingers. Although this interpretation may seem gloomy to some, it can be seen as a deep philosophy. The meaning of the clock symbol is close to the meaning of the famous Latin expression “Remember death.” Every time you look at the clock and become aware of yourself, you learn to appreciate every second of your life.

Soul emptiness

This is the interpretation we give to tattoos with a clock without hands. This symbol is quite gloomy, but not devoid of wisdom. A clock that does not show time is the personification of lost years. Some people understand this symbol a little differently. For example, there is an expression “Happy people don’t watch the clock.” There is some truth in this simple aphorism. Stopping keeping track of time means learning the value of every minute and enjoying life without being tied to numbers and arrows.

Evolution or transition state

In many cultures, watches symbolize an era of change or the process of transition from one state to another. Often watches are perceived as the relationship between life and death. We are born and die every second. In this philosophical saying you can find the key to understanding the idea of ​​a clock tattoo.

Accidents and fortune

A watch is not only a symbol of inevitability. They represent what a person has full control over your life, you just need to want to discover this gift in yourself. The tattooed clock will become your kind of alarm clock, which will remind you that everything you want is in your hands.

Hourglass

Separately, I would like to say a few words about the hourglass, since it is a popular tattoo subject. The hourglass symbolizes the passage of time, the cause-and-effect process. Among the popular interpretations of this symbol are the following:

  • The cyclical nature of life;
  • Interaction of creative and destructive forces;
  • The corruption of the world.

Styles and places

As you can imagine, the clock is such a broad symbol that it is not possible to determine the ideal tattoo style for it. It all depends on the idea of ​​the tattoo artist. The same is true when choosing a place for a tattoo. The location is selected based on the context of the picture itself. But we will mention the following popular places:

  • Wrist and inner forearm;
  • Chest and stomach;
  • Backside palms.

Celebrities

We managed to find one famous person who had a clock tattooed on his body. This is Caris Anderson with an unusual tattoo on her arm. The elegant design is done in a traditional style using pink, black and yellow ink.

The hourglass is a popular and fairly unambiguous symbol. Even Windows uses the hourglass image as a system busy indicator. This image has also become part of tattoo culture. Therefore, let us explain the meaning of the hourglass tattoo.

Time is like sand

Speaking about what an hourglass tattoo means, an association arises with the expiration of time, the desire to accomplish as much as possible in the time allotted to us by fate.

Time is the most valuable currency, because it is with it that we often pay for wrong decisions, the fear of committing a serious act, or changing our lives. With time you have to pay for excessive idleness, for meaningless fuss. No one can know how many years fate has measured out for each of us, and the understanding that we need to appreciate every moment brings a person closer to happiness.

So, what does an hourglass tattoo mean?

  • Transience of life. Each of us probably sooner or later had to remember some event from the past and catch ourselves thinking that it happened several years ago, but it seems like yesterday. At such moments, a person begins to think about how quickly his life actually flows. An hourglass tattoo on the hand, for example, can serve as a kind of reminder that a person is not eternal. Even if we believe in reincarnation, our current incarnation is still mortal, and no one can know what the next incarnation will be. Therefore, it is worth taking full advantage of all the opportunities that this life promises us.
  • The value of every moment. Each grain of sand is like one moment of our life, and these grains of sand fall at the same speed. Although it seems that happy moments pass too quickly, and a moment of sadness lasts forever, this is not so, every moment of life is equally valuable. Moments of sadness give us food for thought, losses allow us to draw important conclusions.
  • The pointlessness of vanity. The meaning of an hourglass tattoo often comes down to the fact that you shouldn't waste time on things that aren't really important. A person who has chosen such a tattoo periodically wonders what he is spending his life on, whether he really needs this.
  • Fatalism. An hourglass tattoo with a skull can indicate such an outlook on life. The skull in this case symbolizes death, and the clock symbolizes the continuous passage of time, inevitably leading to death. That is, a person does not see any special meaning in his existence, because the result is still the same.

A tattoo depicting an hourglass in any case speaks of the passage of time in our lives. But everyone decides for themselves exactly how to perceive it - to appreciate every moment or to give up and just go with the flow.

Subjects and styles

Most often, an hourglass is depicted with a minimum number of additional decorative elements. The watch bowls can be made in the shape of hearts or figure eights - they can be decorated with flowers, flames, butterflies or feathers. Sometimes you can see photos of hourglass tattoos along with portraits. There are images of watches with wings, which usually indicate that a person is trying to take life lightly. If an owl is adjacent to an hourglass tattoo, this means that the owner of the work is trying to manage his time wisely. When it comes to depicting animals with watches, it is worth considering the symbolism that they carry.

Clocks are one of my favorite themes. He is rebellious, defiant, bright. A tattoo made in this style speaks of expressiveness and determination. Trash polka is chosen by self-sufficient people who do not care about the opinions of others, they despise banality and social conventions. A tattoo with an hourglass made in this style indicates that a person will manage his own life, without looking at other people’s opinions.

A tattoo with the image of a clock is the choice of bright personalities for whom the meaning in everything is important. Such tattoos are chosen equally by romantic girls and rational ones. strong men. Time is one of the main values ​​in this world; it cannot be bought. People strive to cheat time, stay young longer, turn life back in order to correct the mistakes of the past or bring something back.

The meaning of watches in the world and in history.

  • Clock towers as a symbol of power and wealth. In the UK it is Big Ben, printed on every postcard and souvenir from England. In Russia, this is the Kremlin and the Kremlin clock, as a symbol of the greatness of the country.
  • Ancient Greece - with a clock they depicted the thunderer Zeus, the just Themis and the solar Helios.
  • A wristwatch determines status and demonstrates strength, power and wealth to others. Attribute of a successful person.
  • Christianity - Saints Ambrose and Mary Magdalene are depicted with a clock.
  • Shaivism and Indian mythology - the hourglass as a cyclic symbol on Dammaru (Shiva's drum).
  • Ancient Rome - the hourglass is a symbol of death, “memento mori”.

Depending on the design and style, the meaning of the clock tattoo will change. The location on the body opposite has no semantic meaning. The choice of location is determined only by personal preferences and the size of the sketch.

Clock tattoo meaning and design options

  • Sand is a symbol of fatalism and the transience of time. This tattoo is chosen by people who believe in fate and that everything in this world is predetermined.
  • With a dial without hands or numbers - life without much meaning or without bright events. Often used as a symbol of wasted time.
  • With numbers and arrows indicating the exact time - in memory of an important event that divided life into “before” and “after”. Parents make such clock tattoos indicating the time of birth of their children in memory of this happy moment.
  • Pictures of many small details of the mechanism are stuffed by people who want to understand complex and confusing life circumstances.
  • Encrusted with precious stones - a symbol of the search for meaning in life.
  • The exact time on the dial and the crows are a memorable date associated with the death of a loved one.
  • The clock and the skull are a symbol of the proximity of death, that everything in life has an end. Most often, such a tattoo is painted in black and white.
  • A clock and a compass are a symbol of travelers, people looking for direction in life, where time is so fleeting.
  • A watch with roses and butterflies is a frivolous option for romantic and sophisticated girls, because happy hours do not watch.
  • With a broken dial or broken hands - unfulfilled hopes, like a desire to turn the page of failure in the book of life.
  • Paired with an owl - book erudition, erudition and the value of time. As a symbol of the fact that it is never too late to learn.
  • Pocket - as a symbol of the soul. The personification of inner strength and beauty and how unimportant external ones are. It's the candy that's important, not the wrapper.

Definitely, a clock tattoo carries meaning and the choice of one or another design can change the direction of life. Superstitious people They believe that the image of a clock on the body endows the owner of such a tattoo with wisdom or, on the contrary, dooms him to premature death. Choose what is right for you, you can’t go wrong in this matter.

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Clock tattoo meaning

Clock tattoos are worn by both men and women. The deep meaning of this tattoo does not change depending on how the image of the clock is applied: in accordance with a certain style or as an extreme design. Images of watches are applied in various styles; the places where they are applied are most often the shoulders, arms, back or chest.

The clock tattoo contains a dual meaning. On the one hand, the clock is a symbol of the transience of life, an indication that human life is unpredictable and can stop at any moment, and that people do not know their future. On the other hand, a tattoo with the image of a clock serves as a reminder for its wearer of some important, almost fateful event in his life, which divided human existence into “before” and “after”; For such a person, the image of a clock is a sign that time has begun to count down from a certain moment and the owner of the tattoo wants the clock to be a kind of reminder of this.

The numbers depicted on the tattooed clock mean some important period of a person’s life (date, hours, minutes), from which the countdown of the “other” life began.

A symbol of life passing without meaning, without any significant, important events, is a tattoo of a clock without hands or. Similar sketches are quite often found among photographs of already applied tattoos.

A tattoo with an hourglass has a special meaning, which lies in the fact that time is beyond the control of humanity, that it constantly and hopelessly disappears like sand in an hourglass.

If the sketch of a clock tattoo depicts gems, this is a sign that the owner of such a tattoo puts the search for the meaning of life as his main task.

A tattoo of a watch with a complex clock mechanism, depicting various small details, characterizes a person who encounters various difficult circumstances in life, and is ready to deal with them and customize them “for himself.”