West country time?

[mrmeat]

My brother in law is an engineer who makes tiny gadgets, and models of enormous insects. He once made a tiny robot snake that you could drive inside a drainpipe. He even gets paid to do it.

We often talk about watches and he has an idea to make a watch movement that tells the 'approximate' time, it would ultimately be accurate over the course of an hour or 12 hours, but the idea is that it is designed to speed up and then slow down, not massively, but enough so that the time is generally a little bit out, maybe using oval gears. I think it comes from living in the west country, where times are always approximate anyway. Try arranging a business meeting from someone from the south west and they'll generally be late. Or early if there's food.

I think we can sometimes get obsessed by chronometers and COSC accuracy, but wouldn't it be nice to kick back, and when someone asks you the time, you could tell them 'it's about two thirty, ish'? Does it need to be more accurate than this, 90% of the time?

Or not? Would you compensate for the error, and plot the differences on a chart, so you could correct it?

Is the 'approximate time' watch a dead duck or a clever beast?

[Longwool]

You need to brand it as the “Dreckly” watch



The Cornish on here will understand


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[Speedy2254]

You need to brand it as the “Dreckly” watch



The Cornish on here will understand


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Camborne here & I know exactly what you mean. Funny thing is, English people think that when I say "Directly" it means I'm going to do whatever they want straightaway...

[catch21]

Camborne here & I know exactly what you mean. Funny thing is, English people think that when I say "Directly" it means I'm going to do whatever they want straightaway...

In Camborne you only need to know the day, well more specifically, if it's Wednesday.

[seadog1408]

Camborne here & I know exactly what you mean. Funny thing is, English people think that when I say "Directly" it means I'm going to do whatever they want straightaway...

Knave-go-by or locally negabe here.

[Speedy2254]

Knave-go-by or locally negabe here.

Knave-go-by is just round the corner from my folks' place, they live behind Bassett school (as was).

[Idontgram]

Sounds fun but doesn’t a one-handed watch sort of do this anyway? It sort of makes it almost very difficult to tell the exact time

[Mr Curta]

I have a Vostok Amphibia that does that.

[sish101]

I have a Vostok Amphibia that does that.

Beat me to it!

Sent through the ether by diddling with radio waves

[Daddelvirks]

I have a Vostok Amphibia that does that.

That’s from the East….

- - - Updated - - -

My brother in law is an engineer who makes tiny gadgets, and models of enormous insects. He once made a tiny robot snake that you could drive inside a drainpipe. He even gets paid to do it.

We often talk about watches and he has an idea to make a watch movement that tells the 'approximate' time, it would ultimately be accurate over the course of an hour or 12 hours, but the idea is that it is designed to speed up and then slow down, not massively, but enough so that the time is generally a little bit out, maybe using oval gears. I think it comes from living in the west country, where times are always approximate anyway. Try arranging a business meeting from someone from the south west and they'll generally be late. Or early if there's food.

I think we can sometimes get obsessed by chronometers and COSC accuracy, but wouldn't it be nice to kick back, and when someone asks you the time, you could tell them 'it's about two thirty, ish'? Does it need to be more accurate than this, 90% of the time?

Or not? Would you compensate for the error, and plot the differences on a chart, so you could correct it?

Is the 'approximate time' watch a dead duck or a clever beast?

I guess Bob Fleming would love it ;)

[Saint-Just]

Funny that. I’ll stop wearing a watch that is not within COSC or thereabouts because I consider it a design flaw. But I will very rarely read or give the time to the minute. I just need to know that I can if I need to.

[Kingstepper]

Think there is some mileage in the idea as a novel concept though don’t underestimate the difficulty in designing a watch movement from scratch, even if your BIL is a clever chap.
No sure know oval gears might work either TBH (edit: - maybe oval sprocket and chain?).

[BillyCasper]

I think it comes from living in the west country, where times are always approximate anyway. Try arranging a business meeting from someone from the south west and they'll generally be late. Or early if there's food.

Is that an Equation of Time complication?

[Mick P]

Do not take the p*** out of the West Country. Some of the greatest advancements in the recording of time took place in Bristol. When Isambard Kingdom Brunel connected Bristol to Paddington. There was, I believe but subject to a check, a 12 minute difference in time and travellers were often confused whether they were reading Bristol time or London time.

Here is a brief resume' of the famous Bristol Temple Mead clock.

https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/1782814

[mrmeat]

Do not take the p*** out of the West Country. Some of the greatest advancements in the recording of time took place in Bristol. When Isambard Kingdom Brunel connected Bristol to Paddington. There was, I believe but subject to a check, a 12 minute difference in time and travellers were often confused whether they were reading Bristol time or London time.

Here is a brief resume' of the famous Bristol Temple Mead clock.

https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/1782814

No offence intended.

I was born in Cornwall and now live up north. Somerset.

[Mr Curta]

Do not take the p*** out of the West Country. Some of the greatest advancements in the recording of time took place in Bristol. When Isambard Kingdom Brunel connected Bristol to Paddington. There was, I believe but subject to a check, a 12 minute difference in time and travellers were often confused whether they were reading Bristol time or London time.

Here is a brief resume' of the famous Bristol Temple Mead clock.

https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/1782814

The historic dual hand clock linked to above is at The Exchange on Corn Street which is the best part of a mile away from Temple Meads. There was a similar public clock on Exeter City Library with a 14 minute time difference, however it was destroyed in WW2.

Whilst it is true that Railway Time was the standardised time arrangement first applied by the Great Western Railway, it was adopted whilst the line from London still terminated at Wooton Basset. Bristol wasn't connected to London by rail until the completion of Box Tunnel in June 1841.

Bristol is 2º 35' west of Greenwich, which is makes Bristol Solar Time a smidgen over ten minutes different to GMT.

We like facts at TZ.

[Mick P]

The historic dual hand clock linked to above is at The Exchange on Corn Street which is the best part of a mile away from Temple Meads. There was a similar public clock on Exeter City Library with a 14 minute time difference, however it was destroyed in WW2.

Whilst it is true that Railway Time was the standardised time arrangement first applied by the Great Western Railway, it was adopted whilst the line from London still terminated at Wooton Basset. Bristol wasn't connected to London by rail until the completion of Box Tunnel in June 1841.

Bristol is 2º 35' west of Greenwich, which is makes Bristol Solar Time a smidgen over ten minutes different to GMT.

We like facts at TZ.

Nobody is disputing those facts, some of them where in the reference I quoted. I said here is the story of the famous Temple Meads Clock which started the issue of consolidating time on the GWR. The article just showed another clock which was made clear - strewth.

You are just to keen to start fights.

[Mr Curta]

Nobody is disputing those facts, some of them where in the reference I quoted. I said here is the story of the famous Temple Meads Clock which started the issue of consolidating time on the GWR. The article just showed another clock which was made clear - strewth.

You are just to keen to start fights.

That wasn't the story of the Temple Meads Clock!!!

Don't post nonsense all the time and people won't react.

[bloater]

Try arranging a business meeting from someone from the south west and they'll generally be late. Or early if there's food.

You’ve met my family then scattered in Devon and Somerset, and don’t even suggest free bar.

I like the idea, if I need to be somewhere then I’m going to be early, for anything else time seems almost irrelevant to me, once I clock out of the office today, I’ve a meeting tomorrow and other than that until 5:45 Monday morning I will eat when hungry, go to bed when tired etc etc and time is not a factor.

[RobDad]

I think this is the main difference/advantage between an analogue and digital watch. A digital watch demands you read every digit - ‘09:48:01’ whereas when I look at a 3 handed dial ‘it’s about ten to ten’. I still need to perform a microsecond of mental arithmetic to gauge what 09:48:01 means whereas just the ‘shape’ of ten to ten instantly transfers the information. Is that because I grew up with a hand wound timex since the age of 5 or is it how we assimilate information?


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[ralphy]

Here is a brief resume' of the famous Bristol Temple Mead clock.

Firstly, it is Temple Meads, not Temple Mead.
Secondly, the Temple Meads clock never displayed Bristol time, only GMT.

We like facts here on TZ-UK.


R

[earlofsodbury]

... Is the 'approximate time' watch a dead duck or a clever beast?

To briefly stray from the traditional M*ck-baiting for a second, it strikes me that - while it'd be a fun thing for a talented engineer to make - wristwatches are barely a commercial proposition, and novelty wristwatches not at-all. If that is your thang, the Chinese have you covered -