Hello all. I’ve always been a digital clock user, but I am trying to get myself used to reading an analog watch.
For the most part it’s fine, taking me several extra seconds over digital so far.
But one thing I am struggling with is discerning the exact minute. Because the minute hand slowly moves over time as opposed to ticking, I have trouble telling whether or not it’s say…9:22 or 9:23 for example.
Because when the time is say…9:22 and 5 seconds, the hand will clearly be on the 9:22 mark. But when it’s 9:22 and 45 seconds, it looks like it’s actually 9:23 when it isn’t yet.
Is this just always a limitation that I’m stuck with using analog? How precise are you all with analog clocks? Is there a way I can more quickly determine the exact minute?
Thanks!
Growing up with only Analog, it just was a quick glance. You didn’t even have to stop and read it, because you glance and have a mental image of the hand positions that you could compare in your head.
Does your watch have clearly marked minutes and a second hand? If its not quite at the minute mark you know its before 9:23, but if its so close you can’t tell then the seconds hand will show you if its before or after the 60seconds spot.
But also, that’s how Analog is, and unless you have a very precise watch, a regular watch will gain or lose time daily and so the preciseness of 9:23 will be invalid anyway.
It does have a second hand, but I don’t really look at it much to tell the time.
It’s not that I can’t tell the minutes when it is between numbers, it’s that it will already look like it’s 9:23 because the minute hand has effectively nearly covered the 9:23 minute mark despite it being 9:22:45 or something. Seems to be a limitation of analog clocks unless I am just not great at discerning these things. Unless people also generally look at the second hand when reading them??
Tbh it’s actually a smartwatch and not technically an actual analog watch, so I’m assuming the exact time is pretty accurate. I just want to start using analog watch faces more on it to make it look nicer haha. Plus brushing up on my skill!
It’s not a limitation but a matter of precision. The position of the minute hand tells you how far into that minute you are. You don’t need that information, of course. You can just say whatever mark it’s closest to. At 1:00:58, although a digital clock would still read 1:00, it is by all accounts much more accurate to round the minute to 1:01.
So if you just call the time by the minute your minute hand appears closest to, you’ll often be more accurate than a digital clock. It won’t matter. But you’ll know it’s true.
If its a smart display of analog it could be the hand positions have preprogrammed locations and not that is an accurate and smooth transition between the actual progression.
I get what you mean. I think it might vary by which watch face I am using on my particular watch. I notice that in general the minute hand for the face I am using is very granular…it definitely doesn’t just stop at the minute marks or even just halfway in between the minute marks. The one I am using seems to be more fluid than that. I was watching it closely just now and I see the minute hand ticking away ever so slightly as the second hand moves.
There are analog clocks that move the minute hand only when the next minute starts. But to be honest, you might profit from a little less rigidity in your “time usage” - it’s good for your mental health to not plan everything down to the minute. If i make a private appointment, i try to set time windows of 10-15 minutes for meetups; i aim for the beginning of the window, and if i get delayed it’s of no consequence, and for longer delays i would message anyways.
Can you imagine that it’s not so long ago that people called a phone number that told you what time it will be at the next signal tone so you can set your clock?
For you, what’s the value in reading the exact minute? (genuine question, not snark!) In your example it looks like it’s 9:23 but it’s actually 9:22:45… Is that a problem? Probably by the time you do anything with that information fifteen seconds will have passed and it will be 9:23.
For most people, I think analogue is more of vibes way of telling time. You don’t need to know that it’s 7:47 you just glance and see it’s almost ten to eight, and you have to leave soon. I find that I’m basically translating digital time into those approximation anyway. If you like that kinda vagueness and have an android watch then I’d recommend Twelveish as a watch face.
I guess there really isn’t a ton of value tbh! I guess it’s just that I’ve basically always had access to the exact time and anything else feels a bit less than. Things like getting ready in the morning and keeping track of the exact minute I know I have to leave by to get to work comfortably, people asking me for the time and giving them a time off by a minute is socially awkward if they double check, or something like knowing that I want to bake something in the oven for exactly 12 minutes without having to set a timer.
“Vibes” is honestly a good way to put it lol
I grew up when even digital clocks were off by a couple minutes or more because they weren’t centrally connected to something that kept them accurate. Heck, my phone and computer clocks aren’t always exactly in sync down to the second.
I prefer analogue clocks most of the time because it lets me know roughly how much time is left until something at a glance instead of needing to calculate it in my head.
Yeah it seems like most of the comments here that actually understood my question (many of them seem to think I’m asking for instructions on how to read the hours and minutes) seem to have this kind of attitude. The attitude that analog clocks aren’t necessarily for precision, but for a general “vibe” for lack of a better term at what time it is. I guess having constant connection to Internet clocks with precise minutes and seconds has made me pretty anal about time for whatever reason. I guess maybe I need to learn to chill out more?? Lol
Did you know digital clocks experience drift? Your computer can’t keep accurate track of time, it generally uses the NTP to synchronize time.
Your smart watch either has access to the internet and or syncs to your phone time.
Your analog clock displayed on a digital smart watch also make have inaccuracies due to the processor and the load on it, the refresh rate of the screen, etc.
Yeah it syncs to my phone which is also always constantly connected to the internet.
I have a non internet connected cheapo digital clock in my room and it goes off by a minute or so now and then and it bothers me enough to have to change it lol.