January 2nd, 2008 @ 12:26 pm
Atomic Wristwatch
First Atomic Clock Wristwatch
Do not be misled. The many “atomic time” wristwatches you see on the market today are merely cheap quartz wristwatches with a built-in radio receiver. The watch sets itself from 60 kHz VLF radio time signals transmitted by NIST from station WWVB near the US atomic clock in Boulder, Colorado. At least once a day, reception permitting, usually at night, the watch resets itself to compensate for the normal drift of a quartz crystal. The result is a self-setting, radio-controlled, atomic-time, wrist watch that is never off by more than a second or two a day. Impressive and convenient. But these are not atomic clocks.
Definitely awesome. You would have to switch watch arms often so that you didn’t get tired or end up with a huge forearm.
