By default, the digital clock that sits in the center of the Ubuntu top bar (GNOME panel) displays only the current day of the week, the date, and the time in hours and minutes. Depending on your configuration or a previously installed tweak, it might also display a ticking seconds counter.
While having to-the-second accuracy is useful for some, a constantly ticking number in the center of your peripheral vision can be highly distracting when you are trying to focus on writing or coding. Furthermore, forcing the GNOME shell to redraw the top bar every single second consumes a tiny but unnecessary amount of CPU overhead and battery power. You can easily disable the seconds display to return to a clean, static clock.
How to Remove the Seconds Counter from the Ubuntu Clock
You can toggle the seconds display directly from the native Ubuntu settings, without needing third-party tweak tools.
- Click the network/battery icon cluster in the top-right corner of the Ubuntu top bar and select Settings (the gear icon).
- In the left-hand navigation sidebar, scroll down and click on Date & Time.
- Look for the section titled Time Format in the main window.
- Directly underneath the 24-hour/AM-PM toggle, you will find a toggle switch labelled Display Seconds (or simply Seconds).
- Click the toggle switch to turn it Off.
The change takes effect instantly. The rapid, distracting ticking in the center of your screen will vanish, leaving you with a much calmer, static time display that only updates once every sixty seconds.