Astron vs Samsung

Here is an important question: which one is a more accurate timekeeping device - an Astron watch or the latest and smartest mobile phone? Before we rush with the answer: yesterday, a claim was made that Astron is accurate to a second in 100,000 years. This magic happens thanks to the help of GPS time signal acquisition and synchronisation. If you assume that GPS equipped mobile phones keep time governed by the same principle, then in theory, both devices would keep equally accurate time. Unfortunately, mobile phones are not just notoriously poor time keepers (locally generated time) but synchronisation comes from the cellular network, rather than directly from the GPS satellites. Here is the key point: when an inherently poor time keeping device is disconnected from the network, then it will fail to synchronise (to be corrected) and consequently, it will display fairly inaccurate time. Here are a few examples of rather poor timekeeping from my new Samsung; a snapshot taken on Sunday night. The time was 2.4 seconds 'behind'. That is an incredible inaccuracy for what is nowadays perceived as an ultimate timekeeper. In the morning, the phone was off by -0.752 seconds because it was synchronised sometime during the night.  And this morning, it was again 1.11 seconds off. Surely enough, a couple of seconds here and there would not make much of a difference to our daily lives, but the point is obvious: even with network synchronisation, mobile phones are far from being perfect timekeepers; disconnected from network range for a prolonged period of time, they will become completely useless. On the contrary, an Astron's internal clock is much less drifty to start with, and when synchronised via low latency GPS signal twice per day, the watch simply keeps superbly accurate time. Before we go any further: I've made two mistakes yesterday. Apologies to the offended parties:  First apology goes to SEIKO: "A GPS synchronized, solar powered chronograph, with alarm function, is still a few years ahead!" Only partially true: Seiko Calibre 8X82 is an Astron with all the bells and whistles, plus a chronograph. The alarm function is still a “work in progress”. I’ve been also informed that a very special Astron Chrono limited edition is already on it’s way – so stay tuned for that exciting news. Second apology goes to my mother. Not only has she completed three years of formal watchmaking training, but she actually does have a certificate to prove her credentials. Issued in 1972. Well, I learn something new every day…