Clocks

[guest@endurance.net]

K S SWIGART   katswig@earthlnik.net

Since virtually all commercially available clocks use quartz movements
(there are a few watch/clock makers that still use mechanical clocks but
these are generally very expensive and are puchased by afficianodos for
their "antique" qualities), the difference in timekeeping accuracy between
the $4.99 K-mart special and the $4,999 Breitling are so negligible as to
considered irrelevant.  And both the K-Mart Special and the Breitling will
lose time if you do not keep them fully powered (so yes, make sure the
batteries, or whatever the time piece uses for a powersource, are fresh).

Some of the more expensive time pieces will display subdivisions of
seconds (down to hundredths or thousandths), but I have never been to an
endurance ride that even kept track of seconds, so can conceive of no use
at an endurance ride for something that differentiates between
11:06:34.103 and 11:06:34.104.

So, rest assured, that if your K-mart special is running at full power, it
is keeping just as accurate of time as any other clock that you can buy.

The only thing more accurate than quartz technology is an atomic clock.
But I have never heard of one being commercially available to the retail
market (though I could be wrong on this).  And even so, I cannot imagine
why such a thing would be necessary at an endurance ride where time is
measured in hours and minutes, not fractions of a second (mostly they get
used in places like science labs and such).

Some of the more expensive time pieces also have a "sturdier" construction
(i.e. they work even after having been dropped from the top of the Empire
State Building), but I can also say this about my Timex :).  But even for
a cheapo time piece, being dropped from the Empire State Building is
unlikely to have an effect on how ACCURATELY it keeps time (either it
works or it doesn't), unless it causes an intermittant flaw in the
connection to the power source.

Whether you want the durability of a more expensive clock; however, is a
different question than whether you want the accuracy of a more expensive
clock.  The K-mart special keeps time just fine and can be synchronized
with all the other K-mart specials just fine too.

kat
Orange County, Calif.

p.s.  This only applies to digital clocks (which is what were asked
about).  If the quartz movement is attached to an analog display, then the
mechanical connection between the movement and the display may also be
subject to "failures" which can cause inaccuracies rather than just
stopping.