Reply With QuoteI just ask a policeman. :)
Ok, silly question time I'm afraid.
Where do you go for accurate time?
Not sure if the pips on the radio can be trusted nowadays - there are so many distribution methods that can all add a delay into you receiving the signal... Satellite, you've got the time for the round trip to the satellite, plus the delay in digitally encoding and decoding the signal, often this can add two or three seconds to the time. Same with DAB - you've got the encoding and decoding time, and I'm not entirely sure how the signal gets to the transmitters.
FM - OK if the terrestrial FM signal is being played straight out from the broadcaster, but I suspect digital delays in the path to the local transmitter- and off cable it's often the satellite signal being relayed.
TV - same problems for satellite and Freeview as with DAB.
Internet - possibly OK if you have a connection with low latency all the way to the NTP server or website giving the time, but still usually in the range of 100 milliseconds or so I guess, plus whatever else that might mean that the server you are connecting to may not be dot-on correct.
Apart from a radio controlled watch - although I guess there must be delays there too, or GPS, but at always seems to change at or just after the last pip on Radio4 FM, how do you set your watches bang on?
I just ask a policeman. :)
#...but you can't trust a special like an old time copper when youoooo can't find your way 'ome...#
Boom Boom :DOriginally Posted by simes
I just set mine of the PC clock which is near enough for me - given I'm wearing a mechanical (and quite often vintage) I'm not that fussed about it being spot on to the second from an atomic clock as buy the end of the day it's going to slightly wrong anyway.
I know that.. It's just the OCD side of me likes to set them right in the first place! And to be able to compare them to something that is consistent.
:? :shock:
An r/c watch will do just fine and véry accurately for watch setting purposes.
Stop being a spoilsport...
I'm trying to find reasons not to buy a G-Shock!
Time itself is not even so consistent that we should go to that much trouble.
Should we even allow for equation of time variations?
The nearest few minutes will do for me.
Ok, here´s four:
1. a Seiko Spirit rc/lcd is styled more classic, retro even
2. a Seiko SDGA has thé best digital display and is classic/retro too
3. In between is a playfull Spirit EPD line; even with Lupin modes
4. 10:08 Mon 06 dec :wink: (see the SDGA001 review)
Have your computer clock adjusted by a ntpd (network time protocol daemon). Then set your watch by your computer clock.
Best wishes,
Bob
As Bob says, and this Site also accounts for network latency - so anything under 0.5s will be fine.
David
Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations
I mostly use this site. Accurate enough for me.
I go to Time.is
It's accurate enough for my purposes
( note to self - must properly read previous posts so as not to produce practically identical post)
Apparently your sat nav is pretty accurate too, so sometimes I just use that
Normally use this site...
The latency issues etc, are minor compared to my timing in pressing the crown exactly when the seconds are 00,00000000000... :)
My thoughts exactly.
i use time.is
which usually shows the same time as eddies dreadnought on the top left of this page.
Personally, I'm not that fussed. I currently have 5 watches and all of them tell a different time. I really couldn't sit down and make sure they're all the same. If I were that retentive, then the moment one of them started to deviate then it would likely bring out all sorts of behavioural issues. As long as they are there or there abouts, that's good enough for me. :)
Awaits to be burned at the stake for being a heretic!
Back Satan. Get thee behind me...Ok, here´s four:
1. a Seiko Spirit rc/lcd is styled more classic, retro even
2. a Seiko SDGA has thé best digital display and is classic/retro too
3. In between is a playfull Spirit EPD line; even with Lupin modes
4. 10:08 Mon 06 dec :wink: (see the SDGA001 review)
I use a PC, synchronised to an NTP server every few hours, or an atomic desk clock. They seem to agree to within a fraction of a second.
I use an electronic alarm clock which sets itself by magic.
I google atomic clock and use that. I also use Emerald Time on my iPhone.
The Dreadnought clock on the top left is set by your computer, and not by one of Eddie's gnomes.
I ask the wife. She's never wrong. In fact I've recently bought her a mechanical watch just to watch her OCD kick in on a regular basis - it's quite funny, if she detects that her watch isn't in line with the radio pips she goes a little "ticky" herself :)
As for me, well, nothing I do is that time-critical, so as long as my watch is within a few minutes, I'm happy. Hence, I actually use the clock on the front of the DAB radio in the kitchen. Or the clock in the bathroom
Time, it's not a rule, it's a guideline
Emerald time is a great iPhone app for spot on time.
Another time.is user.
Or my atomic G-Shock, whichever is closer.
Listen to Bob, he's got it right. NTP is a protocol widely used for time synchronisation in Unix world (so probably also used by Mac), and it is also used with the windows time service in a simplified form (SNTP). Not sure what windows 7 is using. NTP is a de-facto standard, and yields accuracies to the hundredths of second.
The absolutely most accurate time synchronisation you can get is with GPS. GPS depends on extremely accurate timing to determine your location. Essentially the position is calculated from the satellite's current position and the delay of its signal so all components (satellites and your receiver) need to be synced very accurately. Without this, GPS would not work erratically or not at all. You can't get anything more accurate than that.
G shock atomic
The time Eddie's Dreadnought shows is your computer's system time. If it always agrees with this time.is site it is synced via the network, so you don't need the time.is at all. Just set it against the time on your computer.
Check the time with the radio or TV.
i either use my riseman or an app for the iphone called emerald time
I`ve absolutely no idea how computer clocks work etc. and all the jargon on this thread is way over my head.
Putting it simply, how far out will the display on TZ be? Are we talking seconds or milliseconds? How does it synchonise and will it be prone to sudden changes?
I`m interested to know this....in language that a man who fixes watches can understand, please, not IT babble :)
Paul
The clock displayed on Tz is just reading the time from your computer. It could be out by a few seconds. Most desktop / laptop computers are synchronised regularly (every couple of weeks depending on how they are set up) with central computer times and will get reset by the few seconds they may be out then.
But computers like the iPad are not synchronised (apple has locked the operating system) and will gradually drift off time unless manually set - like quartz watches.
Does that help?
“ Ford... you're turning into a penguin. Stop it.” HHGTTG
+1 for the atomic clock
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