Ignoramus30509 wrote:
A week ago I posted a surprised message about a $6 watch from walmart
that seemed to be accurate.

I have a little more data now.

About 2 weeks ago, I set this watch very accurately to time that is
kept by syncronizing with an NTP server (atomic clock), to the second.

Today I checked time again whiel trying to be very good at catching
the right moment. I typed "date" and pressed ENTER just as the arm of
the watch passed :00:00.

The result is that the watch is not even by one second off!!!
Obviously, there are limits to my own precision in how I pressed the
return key right when the watch ticked :00, plus the OS delay in
starting "date", but in any case I could not detect any difference.

I find it rather amazing, really.

The watch is a quartz watch with hands, "water resistant".

i

Amazing isn't it. John Harrison spent his entire working life
perfecting his chronometer and it was "only" accurate to a few
seconds in the month. I bought my watch from The Warehouse (where
everyone gets a bargain) over two years ago, it's still accurate
within five seconds and it cost about what you paid. Check the
Wikipedia entry on John Harrison; a real story of pereverance,
political intrique and double dealing with an eventual happy ending.

As I understand it a chronometer doesn't have to tell exactly the
correct time but does have to keep time accurately, ie it is certified
to gain or lose a certain time each day so allowing the correct time to
be determined over the passage of days or months, years. Although
technology has moved on allowing more accurate time keeping I suspect
that your watch would cost far more if it was a certified chronometer.

Roger_Nickel wrote:

Ignoramus30509 wrote:

A week ago I posted a surprised message about a $6 watch from walmart
that seemed to be accurate.
I have a little more data now.
About 2 weeks ago, I set this watch very accurately to time that is
kept by syncronizing with an NTP server (atomic clock), to the second.

Today I checked time again whiel trying to be very good at catching
the right moment. I typed "date" and pressed ENTER just as the arm of
the watch passed :00:00.
The result is that the watch is not even by one second off!!!
Obviously, there are limits to my own precision in how I pressed the
return key right when the watch ticked :00, plus the OS delay in
starting "date", but in any case I could not detect any difference.

I find it rather amazing, really.
The watch is a quartz watch with hands, "water resistant".
i

Amazing isn't it. John Harrison spent his entire working life
perfecting his chronometer and it was "only" accurate to a few seconds
in the month. I bought my watch from The Warehouse (where everyone
gets a bargain) over two years ago, it's still accurate within five
seconds and it cost about what you paid. Check the Wikipedia entry on
John Harrison; a real story of pereverance, political intrique and
double dealing with an eventual happy ending.

Dava Sobel's "Longitude" is a great read about what Harrison went through.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

"Ignoramus30509" wrote in message
.. .
On Sat, 18 Mar 2006 09:36:22 +1300, Roger_Nickel wrote:

Amazing isn't it. John Harrison spent his entire working life
perfecting his chronometer and it was "only" accurate to a few
seconds in the month. I bought my watch from The Warehouse (where
everyone gets a bargain) over two years ago, it's still accurate
within five seconds and it cost about what you paid. Check the
Wikipedia entry on John Harrison; a real story of pereverance,
political intrique and double dealing with an eventual happy ending.

What a fascinating article. Thank you.

i