Not even Quartz is accurate, it is all about our time... >
Mamzer Nicolas... :-)
The beauty of a mechanical watch is that it almost runs in harmony with our pulse.
What's important, (if at all important) is that we can speak about our individual time and be able to relate to it.
And, we can continue hunting our horizons hoping that one day we will finally know about absolute values. 1 is 1 but … SO far, only wisdom can bring us a full explanation…
Atomic Clock Accuracy
From: Galleon - Atomic Clock information
How does an atomic clock achieve amazingly accurate time? The caesium atomic clock has an accuracy of one second in one million years! They are based upon the characteristics of the Caesium 133 atom. The single electron of a Caesium atom is known to vibrate at a standard 9,162,613,770 times a second. It is the Caesium atomic clock that can achieve phenomenally accurate and stable time.
The standard way of counting the passing of seconds is by the use of an atomic clock. There are internationally agreed time-scales which set the beginning of each new day and the calendar. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) was established as the first global time scale in 1984. The current atomic clock global time scale is UTC or Co-ordinated Universal Time. UTC was adopted as the official time for the world in 1972. The official keeper of atomic time is the International Bureaux for Weights and Measures.
The National Physics Laboratory (NLP) uses its atomic clock to contribute to the determination of UTC along with the atomic clock of 65 laboratories worldwide.
UTC is a compromise between the times defined the atomic clock and the time based on the earths rotation about its axis. The seconds of UTC are counted using an atomic clock, allowance is made to keep UTC within 0.9 seconds of the Earths rotation by inserting leap seconds at the end of each quarter. Leap seconds are inserted to take account of the speeding up or slowing down of the rotation of the Earth. The sun would be seen overhead at midnight rather than noon in 50,000 years time without the introduction of leap seconds
COSC QUARTZ
Quartz chronometer
Texts & Images from COSC Official Website
No international standard has so far been issued regarding electronic quartz watches.
Based on ISO 3159, the COSC has drawn up a set of testing prescriptions applicable to quartz chronometers which govern their performances in the same way as for mechanical chronometers.
Taking account of the specific technological characteristics of these products, the COSC has adapted the tests and precision requirements.
This called for the development of special quartz movements in order to meet these new requirements. It has become compulsory for them to be equipped with an electronic system compensating for the variation in the frequency of the quartz according to changes in temperature.
A new-generation quartz chronometer is therefore 10 times more accurate than a conventional quartz watch. Moreover it is a very exclusive product manufactured on a low scale.
Each quartz chronometer is tested for 11 days, in one position and at 3 temperatures, as shown in the table on the next page.
In addition, throughout an entire day, it is subjected to 3-dimensional rotations causing it to repeatedly assume all spatial positions.
Finally, it is subjected to 200 shocks equivalent to 100 G (100 times stronger than gravity).
Based on these measurements, 8 eliminatory criteria are calculated. If and only if these 8 criteria are met, the movement is duly "chronometer-certified".
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