Page 1 of 1
Silly date dial question for you to ponder
Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2021 8:54 am
by Elkins45
Let’s say you have a quartz watch with plenty of battery life, or a solar with plenty of light. You set the time and date on January 1 and just leave it alone. On March 1 the date will be wrong because it will say 29, and as the months pass it will be increasingly incorrect as the 30 day months accumulate.
How long will it be before the date is correct again?
Re: Silly date dial question for you to ponder
Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2021 9:19 am
by MoT
Elkins45 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 02, 2021 8:54 am
Let’s say you have a quartz watch with plenty of battery life, or a solar with plenty of light. You set the time and date on January 1 and just leave it alone. On March 1 the date will be wrong because it will say 29, and as the months pass it will be increasingly incorrect as the 30 day months accumulate.
How long will it be before the date is correct again?
I'm probably wrong, but I think the answer is never. I'm sure people better at math than I am will figure it out.
Re: Silly date dial question for you to ponder
Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2021 9:54 am
by Elkins45
ManOnTime wrote: ↑Sat Oct 02, 2021 9:19 am
Elkins45 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 02, 2021 8:54 am
Let’s say you have a quartz watch with plenty of battery life, or a solar with plenty of light. You set the time and date on January 1 and just leave it alone. On March 1 the date will be wrong because it will say 29, and as the months pass it will be increasingly incorrect as the 30 day months accumulate.
How long will it be before the date is correct again?
I'm probably wrong, but I think the answer is never. I'm sure people better at math than I am will figure it out.
No, it definitely does come back around to being correct. To state the question another way: how long does it take a running watch to be wrong by 31 days?
I couldn't stand not knowing the answer so I figured it out, but for those of you who enjoy such things let's specify that you start on the first year after a leap year.
Re: Silly date dial question for you to ponder
Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2021 10:02 am
by vta_watch
I have no idea and no intention of doing that much math, but I'm pretty sure that somewhere out there there's a Vostok owner who's given up on correcting the date who's had personal experience.
Tap. Talk. Buy another watch. Repeat.
Re: Silly date dial question for you to ponder
Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2021 1:12 pm
by watchpalooza
First 2 years it would be off by 7 days each year = 14d
Third year a leap year off 6 days = 20d
Fourth year another 7 days = 27d
Then another 4 days in Feb = 31d
That is 1520 days. It would be correct again on Mar 1st, but then off again May 1st.
Re: Silly date dial question for you to ponder
Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2021 2:06 pm
by Elkins45
watchpalooza wrote: ↑Sat Oct 02, 2021 1:12 pm
First 2 years it would be off by 7 days each year = 14d
Third year a leap year off 6 days = 20d
Fourth year another 7 days = 27d
Then another 4 days in Feb = 31d
That is 1520 days. It would be correct again on Mar 1st, but then off again May 1st.
I think you created a February 32 in your 5th year. I think it should be correct on May 1 of the 5th year but wrong again on July 1.
Re: Silly date dial question for you to ponder
Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2021 2:10 pm
by watchpalooza
Oops, I did add an extra day in Feb…. That’s what I get for doing math after Sake.
So Feb only gets us to 30d, then April adds the last day…May 1 is correct. Careless error did me in…. Hats off to @Elkins45
Re: Silly date dial question for you to ponder
Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2021 2:19 pm
by Elkins45
watchpalooza wrote: ↑Sat Oct 02, 2021 2:10 pm
Oops, I did add an extra day in Feb…. That’s what I get for doing math after Sake.
So Feb only gets us to 30d, then April adds the last day…May 1 is correct. Careless error did me in…. Hats off to @Elkins45
It seems cruel that you have to wait over five years for it to correct itself and then you only get to enjoy it for a month. Like one of those rare flowers that only blooms for one night every century (assuming such things aren't purely fiction.)
Re: Silly date dial question for you to ponder
Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2021 2:27 pm
by MoT
Elkins45 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 02, 2021 2:19 pm
watchpalooza wrote: ↑Sat Oct 02, 2021 2:10 pm
Oops, I did add an extra day in Feb…. That’s what I get for doing math after Sake.
So Feb only gets us to 30d, then April adds the last day…May 1 is correct. Careless error did me in…. Hats off to @Elkins45
It seems cruel that you have to wait over five years for it to correct itself and then you only get to enjoy it for a month. Like one of those rare flowers that only blooms for one night every century (assuming such things aren't purely fiction.)
Corpse flower?
The Univeristy of Minnesota has one that blooms every three years or so.
Re: Silly date dial question for you to ponder
Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2021 4:47 pm
by Boourns
OK. Same question but it’s a vintage automatic on a winder that runs +1 minute per day.
Re: Silly date dial question for you to ponder
Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2021 6:20 pm
by Elkins45
Boourns wrote: ↑Sat Oct 02, 2021 4:47 pm
OK. Same question but it’s a vintage automatic on a winder that runs +1 minute per day.
Well, it takes 1581 days to turn over and there are 1440 minutes in a day. That means your watch would gain a little more than a day over the course of the five years so it would be caught up at the end of February on year five.