fourth dimension - telling tools are everywhere these days . Think about the number of mobile devices , clocks on computer sidebar and car wireless displays you see before tiffin on any given workday ; there are raft of ways to stay on top of the clock time , it seems .
But there ’s something about the face of an elegant wristwatch that just ca n’t be duplicated inLEDs , liquid crystal or pixels . The three - handed vigil face has served centuries ' worth of explorers , business people and user who but need to unify gamy way with punctuality .
Of of course , that ’s not to say that watch aficionados will put up lesser truth for the interest of a pretty while of wrist jewellery . A sentinel is a tool first and first , and its ability to expose reasonably accurate time is the cardinal feature that differentiates it from a mere bangle . Some die - hards may perplex to manual - wind lookout man or their machinelike - scout cousin , citing the intricate beauty of their tiny mechanisms and the smooth sweep of their second hands as signs of high class , but most watch - wearers expect the comparatively better accuracy and ease of use that come from a spotter equipped with a vitreous silica crystal movement .
A telephone number of manufacturing business have tried to meld the fluency of a mechanically skillful lookout movement with the preciseness of thequartz crystal mechanism : Seiko ’s Spring Drive mechanism marries mechanically skillful mogul with electronic regulation , while Citizen ’s Eco - Drive adds solar power and a midget kinetic generator to the admixture . But watchmaker Bulova took a different path in 2010 when it released its Precisionist mechanism : The company take that this advanced take on vitreous silica watch engineering has raise the bar , produce the most precise vigil to sport a continuous - sweep 2nd hand [ source : Bulova ; Seiko;DiFranco ] .
Bulova claims that the Precisionist strays from honest accuracy 10 second or less per year , far better than the 15 seconds per calendar month the company claims is received for most quartz lookout [ source : Bulova ] . But is that dead on target ? Does the Precisionist live up to the billing as a class - leading piece of engineering ? And how does this unparalleled mechanism eke both smooth motion and high preciseness out of a quartz crystal chemical mechanism ? Take a few minutes to read on ; it ’ll be well worth your time .
Some Background on Time and Timepieces
Before we dive into the question of accuracy , let ’s take a second to get philosophical . Time mensuration , after all , is something of an arbitrary construct . The seconds , minutes and time of day we use to get across duration are fundamentally concord - upon standards that mankind has utilise to make up our march from the past into the future . Existence would not stop over if we chose to turn back chase after time in such a precise issue – we could work just fine if our main sentence measure consisted of sunrise , sunset and the positioning of the sun in between . A cryptical prima donna into the nature of metre dig into such awkward wickets as multidimensionality , time traveland the nature of the world . But for those of us incline toward more concrete discussions , timekeeper propose a more doable theme [ germ : Biba ] .
Somewhere along the line , our ancestors make up one’s mind that it was useful to track mensural unit of metre . It may have been a pre - Egyptian noble or learner who first notice the unfaltering Mar of shadows on a gay day , but sundials – the former timepieces – have been recovered from archeological sites date stamp back to 800 B.C. [ origin : Gascoigne ] .
Modern scout and clocks employment using principle that first come into widespread use in the middle of the seventeenth century : Aresonator , which is a twist such as a pendulum , spring - driven flywheel or electrify crystal crystal , oscillates , which means it vibrates or swings back and onward at a consistent , mensurable rate . A timepiece will use gear , cams , electric circuitsor a combination thence to translate that vibration into the measured movement of the clock ’s hands or a digital read-out of the time [ sources : Gascoigne , DiFranco ] .
For example , a grandfather clock may have a pendulum design to swing from one side to the other every second . That motion momently releases a springiness in the clock ’s mechanism , allow the 2d , minute and hr hands to advance by their respective distances around the clock facial expression . Suppose , now , that your clock has a pendulum that swings every one-half - second , doubling its cycle . Your clock can now track half - seconds , giving the hands a smoother movement and allowing you to adjust it with a finer degree of preciseness . Take this conception , put back the pendulum with an object that oscillates at an passing highfrequency– multiple time per instant – and you have the makings of a innovative timepiece .
How precise can clocks be?
high-pitched - goal watches can vary in accuracy depending on their mechanisms . Watch manufacturer Seiko arrogate its Spring Drive – an electrically adjusted robotic mechanics – varies by no more than one second per day , for example . Breitling , which commercialize its watches as acme - of - performance timepieces for aviators and sailors , bills its automatics as meeting the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute ( COSC ) criterion for daily variation : no more than four seconds dissolute or six second slow per day . crystal watches – even relatively cheap ones – can be expect to vary or drift by one 2d or less over the grade of 24 time of day [ source : Lombardi ] .
The Bulova Precisionist has a take truth of 10 seconds of sport per year , drifting less in one month than a decent quartz watch might alter in a Clarence Shepard Day Jr. . That may sound very accurate , and may be totally acceptable for most drug user . But wristwatches as a whole ca n’t hold a candle to the mother of all accurate timekeepers : atomic clocks .
Forget pendulums ; these precision machines employ a variety of methods to measure the inherent cycle of single mote . Working as tiny resonator , atoms thrill at extremely gamey relative frequency ; Cesium atoms , for example , resonate at 9,192,631,770 hertz , or cycles per second . nuclear oscillation is also very consistent : research worker behind a London - establish clock using the so - call Cesium fountain process say that their machine is accurate to within two 10 million billionth of a second . Granted , the clock suffers from the inherent trouble withatomic clocksfrom a consumer standpoint : they ’re large , sterile array of chambers , tube , conducting wire and scaffold – not something that would look nice on your radiocarpal joint , and not exactly an affordable item available at the box drugstore [ source : Loftus ] . But it ’s prissy to know the gold standard when you ’re blab out about time . ( acquire more about atomic clocks in our article , How Atomic Clocks Work . )
The Bulova Precisionist is nowhere near as accurate as an atomic clock , but it does declare its own against other wrist watch in its price range . record on to discover how the watchmaker extort this level of precision out of what is basically an accurized quartz campaign .
How the Precisionist Mechanism Works
At its nitty-gritty , the Precisionist mechanism uses tried - and - truequartz crystaltechnology : A cautiously measured electric current energizes a quartz quartz glass mould like a tuning crotch , which begin to hover at a particular frequency . This vibration creates electrical pulsation at a coherent pace ; the sentinel ’s integratedcircuitsuse those pulses to trigger the watch motor . The motor , in turn , propel the gears , and thus the script , a tiny distance with each pulse . ( To learn more about the process , check out our article onHow Quartz Watches Work . )
This chemical mechanism overcomes a numeral of the problems face by manual andself - winding lookout man , most notably the dependence on a frail balance of wheels and springs . These precise constituent can be affected by soberness and strong electromagnetic line of business , and they lose accuracy if not regularly cleaned and tuned . But quartz glass watches are n’t unvanquishable ; beyond the need to replace the battery over time , the mechanism hinge on the integrity of a tiny quartz tuning fork . transfer the fork ’s temperature or contaminate its airfoil with even a small dirt or debris , and its oscillating absolute frequency can transfer , throwing off the entire organization [ reservoir : DiFranco ] .
The Precisionist use a pair of tech tricks to overwhelm the quartz chemical mechanism ’s weak points . First , its crystal is unequalled : most vitreous silica watches use crystals work into two - pronged tuning forks , but the Precisionist literally goes one better with a three - pronged fork that the fellowship claims can oscillate at 262.144 kilohertz ( or 16 beats per second ) , about eight times faster than the 32.768 kilohertz ( about 1 to 2 beats per secondly ) that is the typical frequency for quartz oscillators . For compare , the balance bicycle of most mechanical watches vacillate at frequencies of 8 to 10 beat per sec . Like a microscope being able to show more point at 100X enlargement than at 20X , the higher - frequency vibration means the picket ’s processor can measure smaller fraction of each second , giving it more accurate data to transform into the hands ' movement [ sources : Lombardi;Arnstein ] .
Bulova engineers tackled the problem of temperature fluctuation by lend temperature regulating to the Precisionist ’s circuitry . The circuitry in the watch essentially senses temperature changes and adapts to corresponding changes in the quartz crystal ’s galvanising pulses . It ’s a small adaptation that might seem too miniscule to nark with , but tiny changes in pulsing lastingness at the crystal ’s high oscillation frequency can impart up to accuracy - killing deviation as the temperature changes [ sources : Lombardi;DiFranco ] .
Precisionist Materials and Bulova’s History
As of Spring 2012 , Bulova offered the Precisionist crusade in six mode solicitation ranging from showy to dressy with prices ranging from about $ 300 to $ 900 . For the most part , the collections target style - witting consumers , with the major difference among the elan involving face shapes , engravings , colors and material selection . These range from slim stainless sword cases with leather shoulder strap , mother - of - bead inlays and rhomb emphasis to chunky titanium cases with ballistic fabric straps and carbon copy fiber inlay .
Most of the spotter are water resistant to about 100 foot ( 30 meters ) – although one might find out it punishing to imagine rent the diamond - studded designs anywhere near a pool , let alone an ocean . The Champlain collection incorporates shtup - back case and extra gasket to advertize the H2O resistance to about 900 feet ( 300 meters ) , making them suited for manipulation by loon [ source : Bulova ] .
The Bulova Watch Company is employing novel - to - the - market theme in the Precisionist mechanism , but the company itself is no spring volaille . It has been in existence since 1875 , and launch its first line of wristwatch in 1919 to respond to the demand of soldier in World War I , who involve sluttish entree to an accurate timepiece than could be had from a pocket ticker . Bulova ’s carpus - mounted option caught on , and veterans brought the idea home from the battlefield .
Over the years , Bulova has had other firsts that go beyond watch making . In 1941 , the company made advertizing story when a commercial message for its ware air during a baseball game . Legend has it the company paid a thumping $ 9 for the commercial message ( for more on Bulova ’s commercial-grade first , see our article10 TV Moments that shift the World ) . And the troupe ’s Accutron quartz - tuning - branching – regulated technology , which has been used everywhere from NASA planet to the first moon walk to Air Force One , continue a solid competitor in the watch grocery store today .
Frequently Answered Questions
Lots More Information
This one ’s gon na cost me .
As I pass my enquiry time studying the inner workings of various high-pitched - end watches , I realized how much body of work goes into fix an exact timepiece . Think about it : When the various part in a watch are mensurate in microns , something as lowly as a mislaid fall of lubricant or a stray lash can be the difference between a useful piece of jewelry and a turkey just waiting to be return to the manufacturer . Even microscopical moment of debris can do a number on a watch ’s precision . And then there ’s temperature , magnetic fields , imbalances not aligned with the expect gravitational pull … but I digress .
My paranoia come from examine my own watch , a well - enjoy , off - brand robotic I got a few years ago as a giving . I still get a recoil out of its skeletonized mechanics that lease me watch the Libra wheel flicker back and forward as the 2d hand ticks around at 4 round per second .
But it ’s float , or at least that ’s the fashion it seems . Maybe it ’s but in indigence of lubrication and a little cleansing . Or perhaps it ’s rebound off the floor one prison term too many in my former - morn fumbling to get dressed for work . Either way , all it took was this article to get me paying attention to the watch ’s truth .
It ’s true that automatics are less precise than quartz watch . And I have to include that some of the Precisionist models are quite attractive . My learning ability ’s now working , and I can see it : a well - earned payroll check from write about lookout man will come just in time … to plunk down for a decent raw watch .
shady how those things go , is n’t it ?
