Equatorial dials

Headquarters, Dutch Petroleum Company (NAM), Assen

One of those rare, real equatorial dials, in which the pole-style pierces the dial face. Normally, the top face serves the summer season and the bottom serves the winter. Here, the bottom face has been raised by 1.5 meter (5 ft), so that one does not have to stoop so clumsily, dressed in a heavy winter coat. And as it was winter here, the sun shines on this raised bottom.

The employees travelling by car pass the dial each day on the way to their office. Would they still note it?
We do, and we also note the conspicuous effect of the shiny stainless steel: the bottom faces look yellowish because of the pavement, the tops reflect the blue sky.

The name of the city, Assen, is engraved into the lower dial face, together with the coordinates: 52°59' N, 6°30' E. The latter seems a bit off; 6°34' would be closer, a 4 km (2.5 ml) difference. Still, the dial was planned for this location; the works council donated it to the company at the inauguration of the new headquarters.

The dial reads Central European Time. The plaque on the support provides the instructions for use, as well as the corrections for daylight saving time and the equation of time.
The tube connecting the discs has a rectangular cross section. The two southern edges are the actual gnomons. The time scale has therefore been split into a morning and an afternoon part. The two gnomons are slightly off-center, so the time scale is not quite homogeneous, as you may note by studying the picture here.
One should read this scale from the other side, apparently, but I couldn't get the time scale to stand out well.
By the way, why does the sky always look so deep blue on pictures like this one?

Location: 53.0° N, 6.6° E
Design: Marten Hugenholtz
Inauguration: September 1989