See picture of my watch face. I’m focusing on the outer rim of the face with the numbers on it. I’m pretty sure it’s also a 24-hour clock of some sort. I’m guessing it has to do with a sidereal or solar clock. As you can see, the time shows 11:39 am, but the sun is just past the 12. I think it means it’s slightly past solar noon. I’m guessing it’s a solar clock of some sort. But the solar clocks I’ve seen (or military clocks) have the 24 at the 12 o’clock position. This has it at the 6 o’clock position. I don’t understand. Can someone please explain this? I’ve never seen a solar clock with the 24 at the six position. 
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The one item I need to research / figure out is how the dial is showing local solar noon. I believe that’s why you have 11:39 which is standard time and a different time than approx 1210 indicated in the image. My hunch is they are depicting apparent solar time or mean solar time which assigns the 12 at the top of the “dial” on the watch rather than adjusted standard noon.– bmike ♦Commented Nov 5, 2023 at 23:46
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2 Answers
That watch face shows number representing 2400 or midnight at the bottom and 1200 or noon at the top. That is common for sundial usage and visualizations of twilight you can find in books and online.
On both sides of the dial are three phases of twilight with color demarcations of the dusk and dawn being transition from the lightest blue to progressively darker shades until full night arrives. This following wikipedia illustration shows the phases of sunset on the side of the circle where Apple shows sunrise twilight.
At sunset, civil twilight lasts from zero degrees of sun below the horizon to 6 degrees [°] below. Next is nautical twilight which comprises 6° to 12°. Last is astronomical twilight which runs from 12° to 18°. Similar dawn demarcations progress on the left side of your dial from night to deepest blue (astronomical dawn starting at 0551) to mid blue (nautical dawn at 0628) to light blue (civil dawn at 0701) before actual dawn arrives with the sun rising above the horizon at the location the watch thinks you are at approximately 0732.
This is the nicest article I’ve found covering the solar face on watchOS. It’s on the Hodinkee web site:
The Solar Dial consists of a 24-hour dial with 12 (noon) at the top and 24 (midnight) at the bottom. An hour hand moves once around the dial per day, and attached to the hour hand is miniature representation of the Sun. The portion of the dial that's in light blue represents the number of daylight hours, and the portion in dark blue, night; the boundaries between each section mark sunrise and sunset
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I’m still too new to mark this with an up vote, but I give you one in spirit. I used to have a stack exchange account a long time ago with lots of points. I forgot the sign on, plus I don’t have the email to get it reset. I don’t even remember my username. Oh well. Start over again. Good answer btw.– JohnCommented Nov 6, 2023 at 2:57
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Welcome back @John - thank you for the very kind words. I'm sure you'll have great rep again if you find the site useful and if that happens, you can flag accounts for a merge down the road if needed.– bmike ♦Commented Nov 6, 2023 at 16:55
First time I see this so here is my guess.
It is a Solar Clock with Down to Dusk indicators (Day light)
The discrepancy in time would come from your Geographical location and the Season.
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I understand the time discrepancy with ‘normal’ time being 11:39 and solar time being approximately 12:01. I have just never seen the 24 at the 6:00 position. It’s always been at the 12:00 position.– JohnCommented Nov 5, 2023 at 21:29
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6 solar time?. Not real time. I’m in the middle of WA ST. So the sunset would be at around 9:00 close to 19:00?– JohnCommented Nov 5, 2023 at 21:35
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The sun will set at around 6:00-ish ‘normal’ time or 18:00 military time.– JohnCommented Nov 5, 2023 at 21:45
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@John Notice the shades of blue, indicating the darkness with 18:40 been totally dark– RuskesCommented Nov 5, 2023 at 22:31