Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/09/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Rolex makes a big deal about the "chronometer" certification, but anyone who actually owns one will tell you that compared to today's cheap quartz watches they aren't very accurate. At least mine isn't. Still, they are a marvel of beauty and craftsmanship and salesmanship and hype and certainly an icon. If I want accuracy in a watch I wear my Zeit model. An incredible modern marvel, this relatively cheap watch is more accurate than any quartz watch. It has a built in radio receiver that picks up the time signal from WWVB, the longwave station of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Those of you with shortwave receivers are probably familiar with WWV transmissions. Same thing, only these are in digital code. The watch sets itself every evening and is accurate throughout the day to a fraction of a second. In fact, the watch sets itself when you first put in a battery. And when daylight savings time comes and goes it adjusts by itself. There is no way to set it manually. Which is better? If you are worried about getting to a date on time the plus or minus 3 minutes of the Rolex is satisfactory. But, if you want to be able to switch your TV to the evening news precisely when it starts on the hour, the Zeit will do it for you. The Zeit, as one might expect from the name, is made in Germany.