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Thread: West country time?

  1. #1
    Craftsman
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    West country time?

    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?

  2. #2
    Journeyman Longwool's Avatar
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    You need to brand it as the “Dreckly” watch



    The Cornish on here will understand


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  3. #3
    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

  4. #4
    Grand Master Mr Curta's Avatar
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    I have a Vostok Amphibia that does that.
    Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH

  5. #5
    Grand Master Daddelvirks's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Curta View Post
    I have a Vostok Amphibia that does that.
    That’s from the East….

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by mrmeat View Post
    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 ;)
    Got a new watch, divers watch it is, had to drown the bastard to get it!

  6. #6
    Master sish101's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Curta View Post
    I have a Vostok Amphibia that does that.
    Beat me to it!

    Sent through the ether by diddling with radio waves

  7. #7
    Grand Master Saint-Just's Avatar
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    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.
    'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.

  8. #8

    West country time?

    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?).
    Last edited by Kingstepper; 22nd April 2022 at 08:22.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by mrmeat View Post
    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?

  10. #10
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    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

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by mrmeat View Post
    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.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Longwool View Post
    You need to brand it as the “Dreckly” watch



    The Cornish on here will understand


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    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...

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mick P View Post
    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.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Speedy2254 View Post
    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.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Speedy2254 View Post
    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.

  16. #16
    Grand Master Mr Curta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mick P View Post
    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 2ş 35' west of Greenwich, which is makes Bristol Solar Time a smidgen over ten minutes different to GMT.

    We like facts at TZ.
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  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Curta View Post
    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 2ş 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.

  18. #18
    Grand Master Mr Curta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mick P View Post
    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.
    Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Curta View Post
    That wasn't the story of the Temple Meads Clock!!!

    Don't post nonsense all the time and people won't react.
    For crying out loud, yes we all know it isn't the Temple Meads clock, it says so in the article.

    My point was that it was the Temple Meads clock that started the process of aligning time.

    Passengers at Bristol were often confused what time to catch a train. Was it Bristol time or London Time, so to make the Temple Meads Clock useable, a movement was started to align Bristol Time to London Time and eventually further afield. That's it.

  20. #20
    Grand Master Mr Curta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mick P View Post
    My point was that it was the Temple Meads clock that started the process of aligning time.

    Passengers at Bristol were often confused what time to catch a train. Was it Bristol time or London Time, so to make the Temple Meads Clock useable, a movement was started to align Bristol Time to London Time and eventually further afield. That's it.
    The Temple Meads station clock played no larger part in the story of the adoption of standardised time than any other station clock on the GWR and B&ER networks. In November 1840 the GWR ordered that London time should be used in all its timetables, and at all its stations (this was prior to the connection to Paddington being completed).



    Here are some articles on the subject of the introduction of Railway Time from reputable sources, none of which mention the Temple Meads station clock as being the instigation point of the process. The clock at The Exchange down the road does get a mention, because it is one of the few surviving public clocks of the era modified for dual time.

    https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/obj...tric-telegraph

    https://greenwichmeantime.com/articl.../bristol-time/

    https://greenwichmeantime.com/articles/history/railway/
    Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH

  21. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Curta View Post
    The Temple Meads station clock played no larger part in the story of the adoption of standardised time than any other station clock on the GWR and B&ER networks. In November 1840 the GWR ordered that London time should be used in all its timetables, and at all its stations (this was prior to the connection to Paddington being completed).



    Here are some articles on the subject of the introduction of Railway Time from reputable sources, none of which mention the Temple Meads station clock as being the instigation point of the process. The clock at The Exchange down the road does get a mention, because it is one of the few surviving public clocks of the era modified for dual time.

    https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/obj...tric-telegraph

    https://greenwichmeantime.com/articl.../bristol-time/

    https://greenwichmeantime.com/articles/history/railway/

    I totally give up with you and as from today I am not going to engage with you. Talking to you, to quote the well known expression, is like wrestling with a pig, you both get dirty and the pig enjoys it.

    Now go wrestle with some other mug.

  22. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by seadog1408 View Post
    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).

  23. #23
    Grand Master Mr Curta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mick P View Post
    I totally give up with you and as from today I am not going to engage with you. Talking to you, to quote the well known expression, is like wrestling with a pig, you both get dirty and the pig enjoys it.

    Now go wrestle with some other mug.
    Why not just provide the reference(s) to your source of the information that I have disputed, or have the decency to admit that you got your Bristolian clocks muddled up.
    Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH

  24. #24

    West country time?

    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?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  25. #25
    Grand Master Saint-Just's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Curta View Post
    Why not just provide the reference(s) to your source of the information that I have disputed, or have the decency to admit that you got your Bristolian clocks muddled up.
    I don't think Mick's brain works like that Matthew. He believes what he thinks is true and anyone disputing this is some sort of low life whose sole goal in life is to pick a fight with him on pesky details like facts, morals, or as you say decency.
    'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.

  26. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by Mick P View Post
    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
    Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.

  27. #27
    Grand Master Raffe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Saint-Just View Post
    I don't think Mick's brain works like that Matthew. He believes what he thinks is true and anyone disputing this is some sort of low life whose sole goal in life is to pick a fight with him on pesky details like facts, morals, or as you say decency.
    Ha!

    Interesting theory.
    Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.

  28. #28
    Master earlofsodbury's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mrmeat View Post
    ... 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 -


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