I use a Timex digital watch. I always get the same model, usually from Target. Costs in the $30-40 range. I set it using usno.navy.mil whenever I think about it (every couple of months). It usually is a few seconds behind. I had one that was so accurate, it might only be a second off after a few months. I gave that one to my daughter (who doesn’t use it, but still wants to keep it). It is amazing to me that the batteries last so well that I usually replace it because of a band issue without ever changing batteries. I’ve got a “dress” analog watch that I set when I wear it. I don’t hold it to the same standard of accuracy that I demand in my “everyday” watch.
Of course, I had to set my watch after reading this thread…
NB: a watch that loses one second per day, every day is still perfectly accurate. The display mechanism merely needs to be adjusted, or the accumulated error taken into account (which is what they did with navigational chronometers, as you could not fiddle with them in the middle of a voyage).
A sustained error of one second a day is INCREDIBLY accurate for a mechanical watch - bordering on unbelievable. For a quartz watch it’s just acceptable.
According to this page, in the mechanical wristwatch category, the Swiss institute allows a watch to carry the “chronometer” label only if its “mean daily rate” is no worse than +6/-4 seconds, among other things (±3 being typical, and ±1 “best”), and, more importantly, a mean variation in rates of 2 seconds per day and a “rate resumption” (difference in daily rate after 15 days of testing) of ±5 seconds. The quartz standard is basically ±0.2 seconds/day, including temperature variations, and a rate stability of 0.05.
I have a solar powered Citizen radio controlled watch. Which I love and is of course very accurate. I care little about its being so accurate and more that I don’t need to think about it.
I have a solar powered Citizen radio controlled watch. Which I love and is of course very accurate. I care little about its being so accurate and more that I don’t need to think about it.
Back when I regularly wore them, I often set them about 5 minutes off.
But, ever since I saw Back to the Future, I liked the idea of “synchonizing watches.” And since I use them less often, I more often can get to do that. So that means down to some fraction of a second, probably around 250 milliseconds or so, or whatever threshold I’d actually notice.
I have two digital clocks in the kitchen, and I love making them line up perfectly. It doesn’t bug me if they don’t, so I won’t bother to keep them in sync, but occasionally I line them up.
The analog clocks in my house are within a minute of the time newly acquired by my computer, and will be resynched to the minute the next time DST changes or I need to change their batteries, whichever comes first. It’s just a pain to take them down and hang them back up if I don’t have to.
I like to set mine 4-5 minutes ahead and then prefer to not know exactly how fast it is when it starts to drift. Helps keep me on time. My favorite wristwatch was a beautiful mechanical self wind but I took it off too often for it to be practical.
OTOH, there are (non-military!) places in the world where if, say, you receive an invitation for 8 p.m., you had really better not show up before 9 or so lest you find your annoyed hostess still in the shower with bags of groceries around the living room.
I used to wear a wristwitch, but the part that the watchband attaches to broke a few years ago, and I never got around to getting a new one. Usually, this doesn’t pose a problem, as I either have my smartphone close at hand or the nearest computer screen is within my line of sight.
On May first, I set my cheapo watch to the time on my computer screen and promised to update from time to time. It is now 20 seconds slow. I’m sure everyone has been eagerly anticipating this update!
My wristwatches are within 5 seconds of time.gov. I have two wristwatches. One is my every day wear and dress watch, and the other is a Citizen Eco-Drive as a backup or if I’m going to get dirty. I hack them every month or two so they’re always within 5 seconds.
