25 years ago, I owned a Rolex 16610, the first Sub that came with solid end links. I was more than chuffed with the fact it came with a C.O.S.C. movement, the ‘Superlative Chronometer’ in Rolex parlance. I even wrote Rolex a letter to ask for the ‘Attestation de Marche’. That is the document on which all the measurements are recorded. And I received the polite answer that Rolex does not supply these documents.
A couple of years before I was given an atomic time signal (DCF77) receiver that was connected to a server in our network to provide very accurate time. It became superfluous the moment we switched to NTP. Because it was a box with its own power supply it could also be used stand-alone as it had a display. Halfway that decade it stopped working because the signal was transmitted in a different way and the receiver could no longer decode the pulses.
But for years and years I found time accuracy very important, perhaps too important. Bordering on the obsessive even. This has almost completely vanished. I cannot name an appointment or cooking instruction where plus or minus 1 second is that important. Or even 10 seconds.
This new ‘feeling’ has helped me a lot in accepting the fact that the watches I own and still buy come with movements that have an accuracy of plus or minus 15 seconds per day. Some are more accurate and under the right circumstances reach 5 seconds but most do not. In every day life this poses no problem what so ever. I put all my appointments and reminders in the calendar on my iPhone (dentist, new contact lenses, watering plants, lunch with a friend or my daughter, etc.) and that gives me the cue. So the (un)accuracy of my watches has no influence on that.
I’m free!
A couple of years before I was given an atomic time signal (DCF77) receiver that was connected to a server in our network to provide very accurate time. It became superfluous the moment we switched to NTP. Because it was a box with its own power supply it could also be used stand-alone as it had a display. Halfway that decade it stopped working because the signal was transmitted in a different way and the receiver could no longer decode the pulses.
But for years and years I found time accuracy very important, perhaps too important. Bordering on the obsessive even. This has almost completely vanished. I cannot name an appointment or cooking instruction where plus or minus 1 second is that important. Or even 10 seconds.
This new ‘feeling’ has helped me a lot in accepting the fact that the watches I own and still buy come with movements that have an accuracy of plus or minus 15 seconds per day. Some are more accurate and under the right circumstances reach 5 seconds but most do not. In every day life this poses no problem what so ever. I put all my appointments and reminders in the calendar on my iPhone (dentist, new contact lenses, watering plants, lunch with a friend or my daughter, etc.) and that gives me the cue. So the (un)accuracy of my watches has no influence on that.
I’m free!
