09-29-2018, 11:14 AM
That's a good question, Joe. We have one of those "atomic clocks" on the wall and I compare my watch to it. Sometimes I'll call NIST (WWV) and get the time- 303-499-7111
The USNO has it's "master clock" which I suppose is really the most accurate time we can get.
See here- https://tycho.usno.navy.mil/what.html
Another site- Time.is (yes, it's a dot-is site) provides a similar time.
Most computers you and I have set their time to servers so you just have to assume they're very accurate too.
I've found the display of digital watches are quite satisfactory for making observations for the only reason- I don't need to interpret or think about the time I see on the display. Analog watches provide the same result and seeing the position of the hands is probably just as easy to remember. Analog watches are much more beautiful than those ugly digital ones. I'm thinking of watches that look similar to Rolex. More people have sailed around the world with analog watches/chronometers than digital ones...in the days gone by.
All of this reminds me of the W.C. Fields movie "It's a Gift"....where he and his family are eating lunch in what they think is a park (some man's yard) and W.C. compares his watch to the sundial and says to the effect that the sundial is wrong by a few minutes. His nagging wife exclaims, "oh the sundial is wrong but your watch is right!".
What do you think?
The USNO has it's "master clock" which I suppose is really the most accurate time we can get.
See here- https://tycho.usno.navy.mil/what.html
Another site- Time.is (yes, it's a dot-is site) provides a similar time.
Most computers you and I have set their time to servers so you just have to assume they're very accurate too.
I've found the display of digital watches are quite satisfactory for making observations for the only reason- I don't need to interpret or think about the time I see on the display. Analog watches provide the same result and seeing the position of the hands is probably just as easy to remember. Analog watches are much more beautiful than those ugly digital ones. I'm thinking of watches that look similar to Rolex. More people have sailed around the world with analog watches/chronometers than digital ones...in the days gone by.
All of this reminds me of the W.C. Fields movie "It's a Gift"....where he and his family are eating lunch in what they think is a park (some man's yard) and W.C. compares his watch to the sundial and says to the effect that the sundial is wrong by a few minutes. His nagging wife exclaims, "oh the sundial is wrong but your watch is right!".
What do you think?