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In related news there's a watch called Stop2Go made by Mondaine based on a design licensed from Swiss Railways (SBB). The second hand runs slightly faster for

In related news there's a watch called Stop2Go made by Mondaine based on a design licensed from Swiss Railways (SBB). The second hand runs slightly faster for the first 59 seconds, then freezes for one second and then ticks together with a minute hand. Looks like this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJwPOBoy3V8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJwPOBoy3V8 I was considering getting one, but apparently there are (were?) some production quality issues, so in the end decided against it.

sonofhans 5y ago
Oh, I love that design. I didn’t get one for the same reason you didn’t — it doesn’t seem to be a high-quality watch. How ironic.
gorgoiler 5y ago
I have one. It is a pleasure to own and excellent quality, at least on the newest revisions (mine is 2019). The link to such a classic piece of industrial design is very pleasing. Confirmed rumour has it that entrance to a popular design museum in a prominent world city is free to anyone visibly wearing one. The movement is electronically adjustable to precisely align the second hand and minute hand positions to exactly the right spot. German railways use the same system as the Swiss ones, so be sure to wear it if you travel to the continent.
crackercrews 5y ago
According to the video, it's 58 seconds on, 2 seconds off. Not a big difference, but in the video it makes the pause stand out even more.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
femto 5y ago
I prefer the actual SBB clock in that its second hand sweeps smoothly, where as the second hand on the Mondain watch ticks. It's the combination of the smooth sweep and the stop that make the railway clock. Each revolution is a reminder of the elegant idea of making a clock from an imprecise electric motor and and accurate stall mechanism.
tzs 5y ago
There was an intro to digital logic class for first year students at Caltech in the '80s that included doing a project to design and build something. The traditional thing people built was a digital clock. One friend of mine took the class as a senior. At Caltech then there were two math classes, AMa 95 and Ma 108, that were generally taken in your junior year, and were either prerequisites to or had to be taken simultaneously with nearly every junior and senior class in your major. AMa 95 for engineering and physical science majors, Ma 108 for math majors. These were both a noticeable step up in difficulty compared to the two prior years of math, and if you saw a junior who was tired and in a daze it was probably due to 95 or 108. My friend took Ma 108. 108 had a way of then haunting you even after you got through it. You'd start noticing that number all over the place. You'd need to go to some office, and it would be room 108. You look at your watch after a leisurely lunch to see if it is time to get back to work, and it is 1:08 pm. My friend had had enough of that, so when she built her digital clock she made it so it held 1:07 for two minutes and then went straight to 1:09.
DocTomoe 5y ago
These kind of clocks are used in many European Rail networks - the basic idea being that they get their time information by radio (usually DCF77 in central Europe), which beeps each second, but sends extra information bits such as date, hour and minute in the 59th second... which also is why when they have lost electricity, it takes up to one minute to reset to the actual time.
- Johnythree 5y ago
  Many office buildings had a network of slave clocks which were driven by one master clock. In normal operation each clock is stepped forward by a DC pulse each minute, but in the last minute any slow clocks are driven by multiple rapid reverse polarity pulses, which align the hands to the 12:00 o'clock position. This means that the hands of most clocks smoothly step forward, but any incorrect clocks will catch up by suddenly racing to the 12:00 o'clock position once each hour.
Doxin 5y ago
Oh that is delightful. The clocks on the dutch railways use the same sort of clock. It's a shame the watch ticks rather than sweeps though, it would have completed the effect.
jojohohanon 5y ago
oh. That's a bit disappointing. I was envisioning a clock where the second hand dragged the others every time it passed over. So the minute hand would only move when swept over by the minute hand, for as far as it needed to revolve. Similarly, the hour hand. I would be nice if the minute hand moved the hour hand, but that would be noticeably inaccurate.

sonofhans 5y ago

Oh, I love that design. I didn’t get one for the same reason you didn’t — it doesn’t seem to be a high-quality watch. How ironic.

gorgoiler 5y ago

I have one. It is a pleasure to own and excellent quality, at least on the newest revisions (mine is 2019). The link to such a classic piece of industrial design is very pleasing. Confirmed rumour has it that entrance to a popular design museum in a prominent world city is free to anyone visibly wearing one. The movement is electronically adjustable to precisely align the second hand and minute hand positions to exactly the right spot. German railways use the same system as the Swiss ones, so be sure to wear it if you travel to the continent.

crackercrews 5y ago

According to the video, it's 58 seconds on, 2 seconds off. Not a big difference, but in the video it makes the pause stand out even more.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

femto 5y ago

I prefer the actual SBB clock in that its second hand sweeps smoothly, where as the second hand on the Mondain watch ticks. It's the combination of the smooth sweep and the stop that make the railway clock. Each revolution is a reminder of the elegant idea of making a clock from an imprecise electric motor and and accurate stall mechanism.

tzs 5y ago

There was an intro to digital logic class for first year students at Caltech in the '80s that included doing a project to design and build something. The traditional thing people built was a digital clock. One friend of mine took the class as a senior. At Caltech then there were two math classes, AMa 95 and Ma 108, that were generally taken in your junior year, and were either prerequisites to or had to be taken simultaneously with nearly every junior and senior class in your major. AMa 95 for engineering and physical science majors, Ma 108 for math majors. These were both a noticeable step up in difficulty compared to the two prior years of math, and if you saw a junior who was tired and in a daze it was probably due to 95 or 108. My friend took Ma 108. 108 had a way of then haunting you even after you got through it. You'd start noticing that number all over the place. You'd need to go to some office, and it would be room 108. You look at your watch after a leisurely lunch to see if it is time to get back to work, and it is 1:08 pm. My friend had had enough of that, so when she built her digital clock she made it so it held 1:07 for two minutes and then went straight to 1:09.

DocTomoe 5y ago

These kind of clocks are used in many European Rail networks - the basic idea being that they get their time information by radio (usually DCF77 in central Europe), which beeps each second, but sends extra information bits such as date, hour and minute in the 59th second... which also is why when they have lost electricity, it takes up to one minute to reset to the actual time.

Johnythree 5y ago
Many office buildings had a network of slave clocks which were driven by one master clock. In normal operation each clock is stepped forward by a DC pulse each minute, but in the last minute any slow clocks are driven by multiple rapid reverse polarity pulses, which align the hands to the 12:00 o'clock position. This means that the hands of most clocks smoothly step forward, but any incorrect clocks will catch up by suddenly racing to the 12:00 o'clock position once each hour.

Doxin 5y ago

Oh that is delightful. The clocks on the dutch railways use the same sort of clock. It's a shame the watch ticks rather than sweeps though, it would have completed the effect.

jojohohanon 5y ago

oh. That's a bit disappointing. I was envisioning a clock where the second hand dragged the others every time it passed over. So the minute hand would only move when swept over by the minute hand, for as far as it needed to revolve. Similarly, the hour hand. I would be nice if the minute hand moved the hour hand, but that would be noticeably inaccurate.