The LED display lights up in various patterns that cryptically show the time using horizontal and vertical lights to indicate hours & minutes. Press the button and the LED display will show a brief light-up animation before showing the time. Hours are shown by counting the vertical led lights, each line indicating 1 hour. Minutes are shown by counting the horizontal lights, each showing either 5 minutes or 1 minute depending on the position. It sounds complicated, but it’s easy when you know how and reading the time at a glance will become second nature.