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Eric

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51 minutes ago, Den of Earth said:

I remember some of the "digital"  clocks being nothing more than a glorified motorized roladex. The numbers flipped  as the wheels turned. That was where my assumption came from.

Does that make the high end handed watches of today, with quartz movements digital as well?  A pondering mind wants to know. 

Unless they say "mechanical", yes.  I have many digital watches with analog readouts (hands) and some with both hands (analog) and digits.  some of these are hands and digits display on an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and some have mechanical hands.

When I was writing the post, the analog clock I had in mind with the digital (numerical) readout, was that one you mentioned with the numbers on a flap wheel.  Common for an alarm clock.

 

If it reads out in numbers, it's a numerical readout, or display.  If it reads out with hands, it's referred to as an analog display.

 

Numerical readout does not imply a digital timekeeper.  Neither does an analog readout imply an analog watch.

Edited by janice6
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38 minutes ago, tous said:

What 6 of janice said.

If you are old enough, you recall the impact that the Bulova Accutron watch made in the early 1960s.

Battery-powered, used a tuning fork instead of a mainspring to keep time. Don't need to wind it every day.  Accurate.   It was a signal departure from the traditional wrist watch.

The first so-called digital watches were nothing   more than a battery-powered comparator and a segmented display you could wear on your wrist.

Big in cool factor, not so much in gee whiz factor.

I do lust after the Accutron watch.  A friend of mine had one for many years with a transparent face/dial.  That was so cool!

Edited by janice6
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I suppose as long as we are tearing watches apart, the term "Chronometer" is an exclusive term to be applied to a precision time keeper.  Chronograph is a time keeper/ time piece.  Chronometers usually include other "timing functions" also in fractions of seconds.  They typically are watches (not all are equal in precision) with sometimes three small dials in the face of the watch.  The designation of "Chronometer" is to meet some criteria ensuring accuracy long or even  short intervals of time.  You can "start and "stop" the timers for one event and for a number of laps.

Old time ships had mechanical Chronometers (precision clocks) to help them determine their position at sea. 

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Indeed.

Having an accurate chronometer at sea had a huge impact on ocean navigation.

It was always fairly easy to determine latitude (north or south of the equator,) but longitude (east or west of the Prime Meridian) was difficult during the age of relying on celestial navigation.

How they accomplished that is a bit too wordy for a post. but trust me.  It was a big deal.

janice, don't they have an institute in Switzerland that cerifies chronometers?

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59 minutes ago, tous said:

Indeed.

Having an accurate chronometer at sea had a huge impact on ocean navigation.

It was always fairly easy to determine latitude (north or south of the equator,) but longitude (east or west of the Prime Meridian) was difficult during the age of relying on celestial navigation.

How they accomplished that is a bit too wordy for a post. but trust me.  It was a big deal.

janice, don't they have an institute in Switzerland that cerifies chronometers?

 

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COSC  This is for Switzerland.

http://chronocentric.com/watches/accuracy.shtml

"...So, what is a reasonable expectation of accuracy from a wristwatch?

Reasonable Accuracy Expectations
by Type of Watch
Seconds gain/loss per day Best
Accuracy
Worst Typical Best
Vintage mechanical watch
in good repair
+/-60 +/-15 +/-5 99.9826%
Modern mechanical watch
non-certified
+/-10 +/-5 +/-2 99.9942%
Modern mechanical watch
chronometer certified
+6/-4 +/-3 +/-1 99.9977%
Modern quartz watch
non-certified (normal)
+/-2 +/-1 +/-0.1 99.9998%
Modern quartz watch
chronometer certified (rare)
+/-0.02 +/-0.02 +/-0.0 99.9999%

While some people desire wristwatches with extremely high accuracy over long periods of time, it is seldom for any reason besides personal satisfaction. The few professions that depend on precision time synchronization (such as astronomy, global navigation, train scheduling, and broadcasting) base their operations on high precision time sources, not consumer wristwatches.

Ultimately, if you are living so close to the edge that having your watch off perfect time by less than a minute bothers you or otherwise throws your life into disarray, you probably need less caffeine and a vacation!...."

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7 minutes ago, Dric902 said:

78CDA398-AD74-42C2-B694-DF4F8F5B6AB4.jpeg.b523babf430db7181a26a19d39132f49.jpeg

My oldest daughter used to work as a volunteer at the Zoo.  Her shtick was to walk out with Tarantula spiders on her hands and let them crawl around her body.  She says they are "fuzzy' and very docile if you don't piss them off.

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18 minutes ago, tous said:

Okay, who else listened to WWV on their short wave receiver as a lad?

I had an electronics room in my fathers apartment house.  The second "Tics" from WWV would drive people nuts.  I, however, listened to them for hours.  Maybe you're on to something here.

 

I was transferring a Superconducting Technology from my company to Ball Aerospace in Boulder CO., when the demonstration sensor wouldn't operate at all.  I determined that the electric field from WWV in Ft. Collins was causing enough electromagnetic interference, that it was shutting off the sensor.  We built a "Screen Room" for shielding and the sensor worked perfectly.

 

WWV has BIG signals!

Edited by janice6
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