I Have My Serious Doubts

[Mel Fulks]

Yes, atomic clocks are the most accurate. But they need to be banned from public transportation!
At every "important " meeting a couple of people are early and at least one is late. Even though they are all wearing
watches and carrying portable telephones ! But I doubt any of them have noon marks. There are at least a couple of old
18th century prints depicting finely dressed people observing noon. But ,if I remember correctly only one is
setting a watch. The others ,I guess, are just wasting time inaccurately to enjoy the "music of the spheres".

[Andy D Jones]

Unfortunately, the accuracy of the timepiece has nothing to do with the self-discipline of the owner/observer!

It is interesting how different generations prefer analog vs digital clock displays. I look at a digital clock, and often mentally translate that to a relational time-of-day (e.g. early morning, mid-afternoon, late evening, oh, and most importantly, almost supper time!) Whereas, an analog clock face tells me directly and quickly the degree of precision I need for the occasion.

For example, my grown children (mid-20's) have digital watches or their phones to tell time, and are just the opposite of me. They would never say it's "a quarter 'til two", whereas I rarely say "one-forty-five" It's not just the saying, its the thinking.

I wear an android smart watch, but I always display an analog watch face on it. I love it! It changes time zones when I am travelling, and springs forward and falls back when it should, all automatically. It also lets me see who is calling, preview emails, or view text messages before I dig my phone out of my pocket.

-- Andy - Arlington TX

[Alan Lightstone]

I had one of the first digital clocks in my kitchen growing up. In fact, that's how I learned to tell time. It had discs that rotated for seconds, and was a flip clock for hours and minutes. They were painted on, and only the present number was visible.

When I started school, I had no idea what a clock was, and my teacher must have thought I was an idiot when I tried to explain my clock at home. Eventually I brought it in to school. Man, I really wish I still had that clock. It would be quite the collectors item. Something like this:
Vintage Flip Clock 2.jpeg

Instead of accuracy, I went the longevity route (maybe it will last 50,000 years) and bought an ATMOS clock.
Atmos Clock.jpg
Atmos Clock - Jaeger-LeCoultre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmos_clock

It hasn't been wound since it was built in the 1950s, so no winding or external power for almost 70 years. Truly amazing invention. It self-winds due to tiny changes in temperature and atmospheric pressure. Seems to violate the First Law of Thermodynamics. There is one in New Zealand that has been running continuously since 1864 without being wound. As far as accuracy - not so much, but that's what my GPS watch is for.

[Mel Fulks]

I remember seeing ads for Atmos clocks in 1970s magazines that were more expensive than hard cover books ! Sorry to
hear the accuracy is not as good as advertised. Ads said the room had to change by one degree a day to keep them
working .

[Mike Henderson]

The Atmos is just a mechanical clock with a different kind of winding mechanism. It's only as accurate as you can make a mechanical clock, and that's generally a lot worse than a quartz clock. Mechanical clocks also wear and need maintenance. And you'd have to manually change the time twice a year for daylight saving time and back.

I went with clocks that use WWV (in the United States) and that keeps them accurate and automatically changes the time for daylight savings time. You see them advertised as "Atomic Clocks" because WWV uses an atomic clock as a reference.

Mike

[I'm pretty sure the Atmos clock works from changes in atmospheric pressure and not temperature. That's why they call it the Atmos."

[John K Jordan]

I went with clocks that use WWV (in the United States) and that keeps them accurate and automatically changes the time for daylight savings time. You see them advertised as "Atomic Clocks" because WWV uses an atomic clock as a reference.

Mike

Ok, who remembers tuning in by shortwave radio to get the time, "... beep beep - chu canada - coordinated universal time - six hours 19 minutes ...". I used to set all our clocks to their signal.



Speaking of clocks, I have a wind up mantel clock from my parents. When quite small I remember seeing it on the mantel at my grandmother's house and listening to the chimes. A few times it quit working and I cleaned and lubricated it. (sparingly, with the right oil)

mantle_clock.jpg

I have some friends who are horology fanatics, er, enthusiasts, who were interested in looking at the clock. One came and brought his son, 16, who obviously was a walking clock encyclopedia and clock wizard. Took one look inside, knew when and where it was made, pointed out a bushing that showed some wear, and took it to work on. I sent the lad home with a Unimat miniature metal-working lathe I'll never use again since I got a larger lathe - I've been waiting several years for the right person to give it to!

UNIIMAT-metal-lathe.jpg

JKJ

[Mike Henderson]

An old friend, meaning that he is old, not that we've been friends for a long time - was in the hospital and when it came time to discharge him, one test was cognition. The nurse asked him to draw a clock face showing the time as a quarter to 10.

So he drew a rectangular box, with a line in the center to create two boxes, and wrote 9 in the left box and 45 in the right box. The nurse said she had never seen anyone do that before.

Mike

[Mel Fulks]

Mike, I'm pretty sure they said "degree" ,but since the temp can change pressure I'm guessing they wanted to asure
all buyers that if they could afford it ....they could work it.

[Alan Lightstone]

“A temperature variation of only one degree in the range between 15 °C (59 °F) and 30 °C (86 °F), or a pressure variation of 3 mmHg, is sufficient for two days' operation.”

Per the reference in Wikipedia, FWIW...

I think these days, the ethyl chloride used means it works mainly from temperature variation but both temperature and pressure do make it run.

[Andy D Jones]

Ok, who remembers tuning in by shortwave radio to get the time, "... beep beep - chu canada - coordinated universal time - six hours 19 minutes ...". I used to set all our clocks to their signal.

JKJ

Oh, yes! My father showed my brother how to tune in WWV out of Fort Collins, CO on the the old Hallicrafters shortwave receiver, and then my brother showed me. I remember my brother recording the minute containing the first leap second in 1972 on his tape recorder.

-- Andy - Arlington TX

[Bill Dufour]

I called POPCORN several years ago from my Mom's landline and that number is frozen but no longer in use. The phone company will not give that number to anyone probably for the next 100 years or so until people forget about it.
Bill D

[Bill Dufour]

I wonder how far ahead I can set up a appointment on my online calendar. I need to set a reminder for 50,000 years so I remember to check up on this led question string. Please do not flame me in 50,000 years if I forget.
Bill D.
Make sure you donate to the site so it can run for another 50,000 years and you can see the photos.

[Mel Fulks]

Oh, yes! My father showed my brother how to tune in WWV out of Fort Collins, CO on the the old Hallicrafters shortwave receiver, and then my brother showed me. I remember my brother recording the minute containing the first leap second in 1972 on his tape recorder.

-- Andy - Arlington TX

Glad to see you tolerate sentiment in your own family

[Bill Dufour]

The oldest working light bulb I know of has be running since 1901 so only 119 years so far. That is only 0.238% of 50,000 years. It has outlasted three web cams so far just in this century. It started life as a 30 or maybe 60 watt bulb. As it got older it got dimmer so now it is about 4 watts of light output. I have no idea how much power it draws to yield only 4 watts of light output.
Bill D.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Light

https://www.centennialbulb.org/

[Andy D Jones]

Glad to see you tolerate sentiment in your own family

???

-- Andy - Arlington TX