Which watch do you prefer for sight timekeeping

[LloydB]

"i wish my wind up clock hadnt croaked when i was sailing in gulf of mexico-- "
zeehag you shoulden't complain, at least your clock is correct twice a day while Allan12210's is only right once a day.
http://www.amazon.com/DayClocks-Classic-Oak-Day-Clock/dp/B0019F9ITE

 

[Sail123]

This is the only clock I use now.

http://www.amazon.com/DayClocks-Classic-Oak-Day-Clock/dp/B0019F9ITE

That is my kind of clock

 

[Sail123]

I use a iPhone as my only timepiece. Gave up watches when the Motorola razer landed.

I opened a safe and found two Rolex watches I had not worn in twenty years. They hit eBay. One sold for three grand and the other one is still for sale at about a grand. Money better served buying a boat than seeing what time it is on the boat.

iPhone's use apps and there are some wonderful timekeeping apps, some free, others for a buck.

There are ships log apps that will keep track of time, make maps, keep track of purchases.

 

[Joe]

This may sound wierd, but using a gps clock to mark your sights is like riding a bike with trainer wheels. I mean.... the answser to your longitude problem is already on the chronometer your using for the calculation.

 

[RAD]

What is an Iphone? All these new fangled gadjets that keep cropping up next thing you know you will be able to watch television without a roof top antenna.

Exactly Ross.......you can watch TV on most new phones today

 

[prishi]

Hi,

I am just thinking of investing in a replacement watch for timing of sights and wondered what you knowledgable old salts used or would like to use?

Do we need to go down the expensive route?
Is digital better than analogue?
Is there a prefered make / model?

I shouldn't think there is a right or wrong answer to this as it is subject to personal preference, I am just curious!

Pagan

Pagan: Your Mobile Phone's network displays the Network Time on your hand-set (phone). This is (most always) the Local Time, and is kept in synch with the Atomic Clock at Colorado. Thus your time problem is solved. If you do not have a Mobile (voice/data) Signal, you generally still get a network time from the network. If you are *really* out of the network, say, hundreds of miles off the coast, your phone still continues its clock and the clock is only, not updated with corrections, since there is no network time-check. However, looking at your mobile phone, you still have the time.
Assuming your phone batteries die out and you don't have a possibility of charging that device, please refer to the GPS time and depending on where the GPS is located, get a Mate to shout out the time while you dip the Sun on the Horizon, or the Moon or the Star, whatever you'd like. That is the second alternative. However, assuming your GPS batteries have died too, it only means you need real help as you do not have any way of charging your Electronics - hopefully your VHF works (hope you set sail with an EPIRB, for and SOS situation!). Again, if you've lost everything and only have your sextant and a trusted wind-up watch, you could get your longitude, but you may have other real problems (food, water, heat, etc.) if you can only arm yourself with a Longitude and nothing more! And as Gunni has said, the GPS will give you your time, and a little bit more than that Longitude that you get, and with much much more accuracy than you can get using a Sextant on a Sailboat!

Cheers!

 

[monkeybars]

what'r you looking at that you have to point a watch at it????

 

[RichH]

When you are 'needing' to take a timed nav. sight it would suggest that you are not near land, inhabited land, master signals, wifi, mobile telephone nets, broadcast TV coverage, ..... where if all else fail you cant make a phone call or watch a news or weather channel, or even contact/call home or simply ask a passing person/boat/truck,etc. for the correct time if you really had need to.

A preference for very accurate/precise time applies to celestial navigation, with sextant, etc. and is usually done when where the convenience of 'external data sources' are impossible. You really will have great difficulty watching TV, using a smartphone, getting UPS delivery, etc. out in the deep ocean and far from shore and where a sextant and a very accurate means to tell the time is the only thing you sometimes have, especially if/when your gps or electrical system 'craps out'.

 

[Stu Jackson]

A shortwave radio can access time checks.

 

[Ross]

Monkeybars, I really hope that you had your tongue firmly in cheek.

 

[Benny17441]

I use a movement self winding watch, I know they are not as exact as a cheap digital but it does not require batteries. The asked a computer to verify which watch was better, "one that always ran 5 seconds late or one tha had not worked in years and the answer was the broken one because it at least gave the exact correct time twice a day"

 

[Ross]

There are quite a few solar powered, battery backup watches on the market.

 

[monkeybars]

I think i would invest my money in a couple of back-up 90 dollar garmin etrex and some AA batterys in a in a well sealed container. if the gps satillite system ever goes caput we have much larger problems to worry about,if all else fails the sun rises every morning in the west, or is that east, hmm.

 

[zeehag]

far enough offshore the iphone wont work, nor will the ipod nor the other cell tower oriented items. have fun,..i use gps for time----when i need it--or the sun ......sun works well--wakes me up in am, and then i am good until i sleep again...LOL