Have you ever been around two timepieces that were precisely in sync with each other? For over an hour?
In movies and such the notation that some event happened at precisely some second in time (see Casino Royale for a case in point) will be accepted without a blink. Hearing (or seeing) on TV that the first of the Trade Towers fell at precisely thus-and-such second is unquestioned. Similar important moments in time are provided with great precision.
Do you ever question just how close these times are to some universal time-keeping source?
Just how frequently do you reset your computer’s clock to some standard?
Can you be more precise than the nearest five minutes just what time it is now?
Well I have three devices that tell the time. I have watched the minutes roll over with no perceptible delay between them. The first one is my cell phone. The second is my roku labs MP3 player for my home stereo. The last is my indoor out door thermometer. The phone gets its time from the network which gets its time from gps which I believe gets its time from the atomic clock in Colorado but I may be wrong about the last connection. My MP3 player gets its time from roku labs time server which gets its time from the atomic clock in Colorado. The thermometer gets its time from the atomic clock in Colorado. My cell phone time matches up within at least a minute of the computer at work I use.
Oddly, logging onto the Atomic Clock website, I see that my Submariner is right on time. I set the watch to this every couple weeks and I have been amazed on more than one occasion to see they are exactly the same…
I question all the time that there is some source out there collecting time.
My computer is set to the atomic clock.
Safe to say I care about time*
*However, it does not govern my life, sans the obvious.
I have wondered about this, also. Usually when I see this in movies the setting is WWII or earlier, before digital/atomic timepieces were commonly available.
As I recall from my youthful days of wearing analog windup wristwatches, there was usually no way to set the second hand. You could pull out the stem and turn it to set the hours and minutes, but the seconds just went along on their merry way.
Possibly in some of the high end models this was possible, but I don’t think I ever saw one.
Aside from those specific difficulties with analog vs. digital timepieces, there’s the major issue of the standard to which one sets the device. I have observed up to 30 seconds (sometimes even more) variation from the times displayed on such TV sources as the major networks, The Weather Channel (and its offshoots for local weather scans), etc.
I mean, when you read or hear that so-and-so occurred at 8:37 am local time, do you even stop to wonder whose timepiece was referenced for that reading? How far off was that device from GMT or the Naval Observatory?
Accurate timekeeping is actually kind of important when you’re dealing with a bunch of machines. Time skew can be bad in dealing with encryption and centralised authentication. That means that quite a bit of time has been spent getting machines to sync pretty closely, so having accurate time is surprisingly easy. The software even accounts for the network distance between the computer and the time server.
I pretty much have to know exactly what time it is, for events at work. I work at a radio and TV broadcasting facility. All of the clocks in the building, and the automation systems, are on GPS synchronization. I set my watch to the master clock (when you pull out the pin, the second hand stops), and I set my house clocks to my watch. My computer’s clock is set to the USNO master clock. The VCRs are set to the time signal that comes in from the PBS station automatically - which is most likely obtained from the same GPS clock at work. I don’t care about matching to the second at home (I’m not that anal), but all the clocks are within a minute of each other.
I’ve had mechanical watches keep within a few seconds of my NIST synch’d clock for almost 2 days. They were farther away from each other than the standard, but over the course of a half-day mission I wouldn’t be surprised if two watches made by the same company and with the approximate same wind stayed within 5 seconds. I don’t currently have two identical movements to compare, but a Japanese pocket watch and a Swiss wristwatch stayed pretty close.
I assume we aren’t talking about chronometers, of course.
I work at a hospital where we spent a small fortune installing some satellite-referenced self-correcting system. This included wiring in repeater-transmitters in areas with poor reception.
There are 6 of these clocks in my area.
I have seen them as much as an hour and 15 minutes off from each other!
I’ve always been a little obsessive-compulsive about knowing what time it was (it’s a pet peeve of mine to be late to anything–even when there was no requirement to be anywhere on any particular time).
Anyway, I use YATS32 (Yet Another Time Server) to synch up my ‘Mothership’ desktop, but for those who don’t mind the long distance call, you can always call the phone number for the automated voice.
Tripler
“. . . at the tone, Eastern Daylight time, 22 hours, exactly. ::beep::!”
This must have been much more hairy “back in the day”, esp. when television was live, and tapes were constantly rolling as backup in case the feed was lost from the west coast to the east coast, or whatever it was they were doing.
I haven’t worn a watch on a regular basis in years I can’t find a particularly good reason to wear one. I know the watch makers don’t want to hear that, but C’mon. Look in 6 different directions, everything has a clock on it now.
You speak my sentiments very closely. The not wearing a watch thing is something I have been doing for over 5 years now. I see no need to have my wrist confined for that purpose when everything I need precise timing for is TV-oriented. Otherwise, I’m deliberately early to wherever by as much as half an hour.
The main issue with time I have, and why I started this thread, is that in spite of the number of posted comments to the contrary, I get a distinct impression from most places where “Look in 6 different directions, everything has a clock on it now” that nobody is in charge of getting those clocks anywhere close to the right time or even so they’re close to each other.
If I look at a wall clock somewhere other than the lobby of a TV station (and even then I’m not placing bets on its accuracy) all I really get a strong impression of about the correct time is that it’s probably within 10 minutes of whatever the clock says.
I can accept that some of the situations posted are real life cases where my basic attitude is wrong. I’m glad to hear about those places and situations. But I wonder if others who have yet to post have been concerned with how haphazardly the “general public” and the “typical workplace” confront the issue of exact time.
My computer sets itself about once a month or so, (I forget exactly). It uses a free shareware program to access the USNO signal, and adjusts for signal delay. I just checked it, Here, and it is two seconds off. The clock on my microwave is correct to the minute, and it doesn’t have seconds displayed. I haven’t adjusted it since the last time the power went out. My cheap assed watch hasn’t been set in . . . damn, several months, at least, and it is seven seconds off from the computer. My cell phone is exactly the same time as the USNO signal as close as visual inspection can measure. I haven’t changed the clock in my car since I bought it four years ago, except to change the hour for daylight savings time, it shows minutes only, and was on the right minute.
Of course, the time clock at work is generally four or more minutes off. A computer controlled system, for which many of my tax dollars were spent, and my eight dollar watch keeps better time! Go figure.
So, anyway, the technology is ubiquitous, but the implementation is certainly not entirely reliable.
The place where I’ve most noticed lack of attention to the proper time was when I rode the bus to work every day. They had a big LED sign at each bay in the bus plaza, and each clock was different, as much as 10 minutes - eventually they just shut them off for good. The two reference clocks in the ticket booth window were different by several minutes, and when the dispatcher came on the radio and said “It’s 10:20, all buses may now leave the plaza,” he was always off by about five minutes. It doesn’t seem that important to the average Joe or Jane.
Just a side question: do you ever reset your watch so you’ll appear to be “on time” to something you’re already quite late for? Just so you can show somebody (anybody) that your watch was wrong and that’s why you were late?
Eh, I dunno. With a wristwatch I always know where the closest clock is. I don’t have to push any buttons or anything, I don’t have to figure out where the nearest clock is (although a cell phone works about as well). I’m also from a rural area, where there’s nothing approaching a clocktower, so having a personal timepiece was a good idea. I also have a pocketwatch just for the hell of it.
Besides, after wearing a wristwatch nearly daily for a decade or so, I almost feel more naked without one on than I do without my eyeglasses.
(I do wish I could get a new strap for my Swatch though. It was big, bright and clunky. I loved it.)
Eh. And here’s where you and I respectully differ: There may be some times I have to know exactly when something starts and ends. It’s been my case that aircraft were flying over my head, and I had to be out of the way at that precise moment. Or, take for example, my current job where I’m setting up teleconferences on a weekly basis–I can’t have a 10 minute window for six other locations to decide to hookup. We all have a synchronized start, based off of. . . yup–Universal time which is dicated by the Navy (even though we’re all Air Force).
So, we government types can’t get enough of the synchronized time, which is why I previously posted.
Good points all, and I am aware that certain segments of society are dependent on accurate time keeping. It’s just that the segments that aren’t that dependent are lackadaisical at best. Haphazard more like.
At least your time and SDMB’s agree to the minute. As a test I’ll hit submit when my local time gets to 6:00 AM.
