Iota Horologii isn't particularly interesting in itself, a 5.4 magnitude yellow star 56 light years away. But it's a convenient star to find the interesting R Horologii, a Mira-type variable with very wide range.

Iota is about seventeen degrees southwest of alpha, or about two and a half binocular fields: binoculars. The other stars here are also fifth-magnitude.

R Horologii, two degrees northeast of iota, usually has a magnitude of only 14 or so, far too dim for most binoculars. However every 407 days it glows with a 4.7 or thereabouts magnitude. In 2000 the maximum should occur around the end of September.