8 ms·
There's a mechanical watch feature called a “hack”
- ggm 3y agoOne might well ask why "Hackneyed" has it's meaning of commonplace.. And if you do, you will see that Hackneyed comes from a "Hack" horse, the commonplace (often hired) horse you use for more ordinary riding tasks, you don't care if its a bit spavined or mouthed, it's not your best hunter. In other words Hack -> Hackney -> Hack A Hacking jacket likewise: its workday hard wearing cloth like Tweed. undied or dull dye.
- 75w 3y agoDoesn't the word hackney (for a horse) come from the place Hackney (for a hipster)? so it would be Hackney -> Hack -> Hackney -> Hack
- tuatoru 3y agoThe Hackney Horse breed was developed in the 14th century in Norfolk when the King of England required powerful but attractive horses with an excellent trot, to be used for general purpose riding horses. May well have been named after the district. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackney_horse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackney_horse
- ggm 3y agoThis is like Proust, and the obsessive deriver-of-original-names character. I'd say its convergent distinct stories, lost in time. Hackney in London refers to a the river bend on the Lea, and an island or peninsula in the river, then the region, Hackney Carriages stem from the horse, the horse's name has now informed french breeds.. its all connected. But, Norfolk and East Anglia aren't close to Hackney in London.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- matthewtse 3y agoInterestingly, hacking seconds have become so ubiquitous, that some watches will advertise the "lack" of hacking seconds. I.e. in the Rolex GMT, when you adjust the hour hand independently of the seconds hand, the seconds hand continues moving (non-hacking), which allows you to change the time zone when traveling without messing up the seconds hand that you previously already setup.
- ferongr 3y agoWhich is completely asinine, as mechanical watches, even expensive ones are inaccurate by many seconds every day.
- snitty 3y agoRolex are +/- 2 seconds per day.
- ferongr 3y agoThat's terrible. Hacking prevention would make sense if they were ±2 seconds a month.
- Raidion 3y ago1 minute a month (upper bound) is hardly a deal breaker. If you were adjusting the watch regularly without hacking (as a pilot) you'd have an error rate that's probably close to 10x higher. 10+ minutes a month WOULD make a difference.
- throw0101a 3y ago> 1 minute a month (upper bound) is hardly a deal breaker. For a relative measure: if you're off by one minute when using a sextant, then you could be off by (IIRC) about 15 nautical miles. So one should at least know the average drift of the time piece if it's being used for navigation, and it should be sync'd up with UTC/GMT regularly. For regular day-to-day stuff, one minute is probably less dire.
- drewcoo 3y ago> In war films, if you ever wondered what a bunch of soldiers standing in a circle shouting "hack!" at each other meant: they're synchronizing their watches. Said no one before ever. For that matter, no group of soldiers ever cried out "hack" while setting their watches in a war movie, either. Is the entire thing made up?
- griffinkelly 3y agoI'm in the Air National Guard, and its very much a thing. Typically at the beginning or end of a brief/meeting when you're about to go out and do something.
- hinkley 3y agoBut it's not a thing in movies, so nobody wonders why they say that in movies. Because nobody says that in movies. It's been 'synchronize watches' since WWII movies became a thing.
- wrp 3y agoI've seen practically every B-grade and up WWII movie made in English, and I don't remember ever seeing the use of "hack". Anybody please point to movie references if they know any.
- hinkley 3y agoMy memory isn’t what it used to be but I think this is the first time I’ve heard it too, if that wasn’t already clear from my tone above.
- ksaj 3y agoScroll through the comments. Someone quoted a MASH scene that uses it. It's a TV show and not a movie, but at least it's an example in the wild.
- 3y ago
- snitty 3y agoThere's an acronym in lexicography that I can't remember right now, but the effect of it is that people try to ascribe a nautical origin to everything. I worry this might be a little of that, but it's a fun story regardless.
- dave_universetf 3y agoCould well be! I have no specialist knowledge, I just got curious about the origin of the fairly random feature name, and went digging. The two well substantiated facts are: Hacking movements gained popularity between WW1 and WW2 due to army interest (and during WW2 US mil-spec for watches required a hacking feature, leading to e.g. the Elgin A-11 hacking watch). In the heyday of mechanical marine chronometers (late 18th century through early 20th, roughtly), common use was to set a hack watch to the sheltered ship chronometer, then go above deck with the hack watch to make observations. The link between these two facts is more tenuous, and basically boils down to: watches with a hacking mechanism would obviously be really handy for marine use, given how the hack watch was used; and military terminology routinely bleeds between the services, so transposition from a navy to an army context around WW2 wouldn't be surprising. As for why the Royal Navy called these watches hack watches... I pretty much just ran down the dictionary definitions of "hack", including the archaic uses that would have been commonplace in the late 18th century, and made an educated guess. I would hope that there's a book out there somewhere about this era of sailing that has a more substantiated take, but I don't have such a reference myself.
- ghostpepper 3y agoGreat post! This has nothing to do with watches per se but I was wondering which war movies include soldiers shouting "Hack!" because I can't remember ever hearing it in a film.
- dave_universetf 3y agoThere's a sibling thread making the same point, and: yeah, I overgeneralized on that bit. The instance I had in mind was the M.A.S.H. TV show, which has a couple exchanges involving "hack" for time synchronization (unsurprisingly, by the most over the top soldierly characters). All I can offer as a defense is that it was late and I assumed that I couldn't remember others for that reason. But looking around now, film usually goes with the more recognizable "mark". Here's a memoir from a retired USAF airman where he recounts what the hacking procedure looked like, though: https://code7700.com/2023_time_hack.htm https://code7700.com/2023_time_hack.htm
- callumprentice 3y agoSomewhat related, I came across a YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@WristwatchRevival https://www.youtube.com/@WristwatchRevival) that I never would have guessed I'd enjoy but now I am hooked. The host disassembles a high-end mechanical watch each episode, cleans each tiny piece and then puts it all back together again. I have never had any interest in mechanical watches whatsoever - I use an Apple Watch - but this is so relaxing and he is so good at sharing his extensive knowledge that I find myself immersed in his world for an hour or so each week. I know this reads like a schill but I promise I have no connection other being a happy viewer.
- dclowd9901 3y agoIt sounds like you just like the process. There are several good car restoration channels for this too.
- qup 3y agoPlug for Hand Tool Rescue, one of the better restorers in the tool category. A lot of them out there, now. Also like "Perfect Restorations"
- iancmceachern 3y agoThere's also a cobbler one where he restores old shoes, boots, bags, etc. Bedo's Leatherworks
- BoxOfRain 3y agoProject Binky from Bad Obsession Motorsport is like this, for years they've been fitting a Toyota Celica engine into a classic Mini to create a four wheel drive beast of a car and they show all the fabrication involved. I know pretty much nothing about metalwork but it's one of the most satisfying things I've ever watched. I also learned about how cars work on a fairly low level through that series.
- jakespencer 3y agoIt’s funny because I know of Marshall from the fact that he hosts one of the most popular Magic: the Gathering podcasts and I knew he had a wristwatch channel on YouTube but I’ve never seen anyone who knew him primarily from that.
- ShamelessC 3y agoUnrelated, but using Mastodon without a login is a breath of fresh air compared to the shit show that is Twitter.
- leokennis 3y agoSo true. X will randomly not show replies, or only half of them, or just show you the "register or login" modal. I've stopped clicking links to Phony Stark's glory blazing shitshow.
- aaws11 3y agois there a threadreader equivalent for mastodon?
- ColinWright 3y agoFor this thread I produced this: https://www.solipsys.co.uk/Chartodon/111142286901955845.svg https://www.solipsys.co.uk/Chartodon/111142286901955845.svg
- capableweb 3y agoSo you are our personal threadreader? How can we reach you when we want a thread "Chartodon"ed? :)
- ColinWright 3y agoIt's a 'bot wot I wrot: https://mathstodon.xyz/@Chartodon https://mathstodon.xyz/@Chartodon You reply to a post with: Calling @Chartodon@mathstodon.xyz [param] ... The parameter is optional, but you have: * LR * Spine * Help
- gnuunitsbot 3y agoso it doesn't require js? does it support transitions ?
- thomasmiller_ 3y agoJapanese railway workers in 60's and 70's were issued the Citizen Homer Second Setting. It's big feature was hacking seconds (https://www.fratellowatches.com/citizen-homer-second-setting-affordable-vintage-watch/ https://www.fratellowatches.com/citizen-homer-second-setting...). I'm fortunate to own one of these.
- jh00ker 3y ago>So, there was great interest in developing a timekeeping mechanism that didn't rely on gravity. "Great interest" is an understatement! The full story can be found in "Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time" by Dava Sobel Cheap book, quick read, fascinating story! https://amzn.to/465h1ij https://amzn.to/465h1ij
- AdamN 3y agoI recount this story alot - especially about the vestigial parts in the mark 1 clock and also about how the clockmaker reduced the size of the clock in the mark 3 to a large pocketwatch size in order to increase accuracy (finer parts).
- nfriedly 3y agoNon-affiliate link: https://www.amazon.com/Longitude-Genius-Greatest-Scientific-Problem/dp/080271529X https://www.amazon.com/Longitude-Genius-Greatest-Scientific-... I listen to the audiobook and thoroughly enjoyed it.
- kqr 3y agoClock people have great words for things. Their word for features is "complications".
- ohdannyboy 3y agoThe subject of timekeeping is called horology. For collectors/ enthusiasts I've been trying to popularize the term hormonger, but it hasn't caught on yet.
- randomcarbloke 3y agoWell as a hormonger I'm going to start using it.
- huytersd 3y ago[dead]
- xorcist 3y agoThe more you think about it, that term is great. It makes us focus on maintenance, not building. I wonder if clock people naturally have a longer perspective because they work on mechanical things. I will try to use this term in software development too. Wish me luck.
- pests 3y agoI never understood where the term came from and I also have an avid interest in watching mechanical watch teardowns/rebuilds on YT. This explains everything and I've never had a more clearer click of understanding in my life.
- kingkongjaffa 3y agoDuring early watch making history the competition was between individual watch makers and the mark of a good watchmaker beyond accurate time telling, was to add more things besides time telling I.e. complications above and beyond just telling the time.
- leokennis 3y agoRequired site visit which also explains this feature: https://ciechanow.ski/mechanical-watch/ https://ciechanow.ski/mechanical-watch/
- slumberlust 3y agoReally great visuals. Thanks for sharing!
- rjmunro 3y agoThis is one of the very best websites in the world. Various articles from it have been discussed here on HN before: https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=ciechanow.ski https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=ciechanow.ski
- jstanley 3y agoI know this is kind of tangent to the point, but: > the mechanical oscillator that makes the watch advance (it drives the pallet fork and escapement wheel, which produces the ticking sound) The balance wheel doesn't drive the escape wheel, it's the other way around! The mainspring powers the train, which eventually drives the escape wheel, and the escape wheel provides energy to the balance wheel via the pallet fork. (If you think about it, it's obvious that it couldn't be the other way around, else the watch would stop very quickly as the balance wheel runs out of energy). The pallet fork is driven by both the escape wheel and the balance wheel, at different points in the cycle.
- dave_universetf 3y agoYeah I was imprecise in the description here, because I started trying to describe how a mechanical movement works and it went into the weeds really quickly :) More accurately, the balance nudges the pallet fork just enough to allow the escapement wheel to advance, and that advancing motion imparts some of the mainspring's force back through the pallet fork and into the balance, so that it continues to oscillate without dampening. It's a very clever mechanism, and surprisingly subtle. I can't be the only one who first saw a running mechanical watch and thought "wait, isn't that perpetual motion? How does that springy thing keep going without stopping?" Not magic, it turns out, just very very careful engineering :)
- aaws11 3y agoI manually compiled the tweets for readability: https://pastebin.com/raw/dTGJS3Se https://pastebin.com/raw/dTGJS3Se is there a threadreader equivalent for mastodon?
- cesaref 3y agoFor anyone interested in the history of chronometers, I can recommend visiting the exhibition at Greenwich Observatory, as they have the collection of original Harrison's clocks, which lead to the development of the chronometer in it's modern form. The earlier H1/H2 clocks are awesome. https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/harrisons-clocks-longitude-problem https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/harrisons-clocks-longit...
- amelius 3y agoFor more uses of the word "hack": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hack
- ColinWright 3y agoI know most people here don't care for it, but for those who like it, I produced this chart of the conversation: https://www.solipsys.co.uk/Chartodon/111142286901955845.svg https://www.solipsys.co.uk/Chartodon/111142286901955845.svg Added in edit: Click on a node to open the original post.
- suprjami 3y agoThat's a way better comment tracking system than Twitter's garbage thread implementation which Mastodon have cloned.
- ColinWright 3y agoI used to do exactly the same thing for Twitter threads, some of which got very much out-of-hand, with hundreds of tweets. But using the chart on a sensible size monitor it was easy to pan around, find corners, follow sub-discussions, and so on. This chart is clickable ... click on a node to open the original post. I'm pleased you like it.
- appplication 3y agoThis is one thing Reddit actually got right. Their threading is perfectly coherent and easy to follow.
- soupfordummies 3y agoDon't care for it? I much prefer it, this is great!
- ColinWright 3y agoI've had some remarkably forthright[0] comments in the past[1], so now I just assume that most people will hate it. But personally I find it indispensable for following complex discussions, and finding corners that I hadn't seen. [0] British[2] understatement; [1] They depress me, so I'm not going to look them up[3]; [2] I'm not British, but I've live in Britain for over 40 years and have picked up the habit; [3] Many were deleted after others pointed out how negative they were.
- king_magic 3y agoNon-hacking mechanical watches are a giant pain to set. Hacking movements are the way to go if you want to get into mechanical watches.