Home > Swatch Internet Time

The most distinctive aspect of Swatch Internet Time is its notation; as an example, "@248" would indicate a time 248 .beats after midnight, equivalent to 4:57:07.2 UTC. Sub-beats can be added at will for extended precision: @248.000. No notation was provided for dates, although the Swatch Web site uses a day-month-year format (d31.01.99).

Like UTC, Internet time is the same throughout the world. For example, when the time is 875 .beats, or @875, in New York, it is also @875 in Tokyo.

Its novelty and the usage of the metric time system makes it attractive for some people and simpler to use than the traditional Babylonian system of time reckoning (24 hours of 60 minutes of 60 seconds). For example, knowing that there are 1000 .beats in a day, if one learned some event took 5500 .beats to complete, it would be immediately known that it happened over five and a half days. On the other hand, if one learned that some event took place over 5500 hours, it would result in no immediately clear idea of the duration covered without some form of calculation.

Although there are advantages to the system, it has some major drawbacks:

• The use of the Biel Meridian (UTC + 1) to denote 0 .beats introduces an unwanted additional meridian; the Greenwich Meridian (UTC) is the standard international meridian.
• The second, and not the .beat, is the basic SI unit of time measurement. The use of an additional time system adds unnecessary complexity.
• Some criticize that the Internet time system is more of a commercial marketing attempt rather than a real system.
• The noon is at different .beat on every time zone. For example in HelsinkiHelsingin kaupunki Helsingfors stad CityHelsinki ( 1550) Administrative Province Southern Finland Historical Province Uusimaa Area Total Land Water Ranked 349th686 km²186 km²500 km² Population Total (2003-12-31) Density Ranked 1st559,3302,923/km² (1st) Ti it's noon at @417 but in New York CitySkyline, with Statue of Liberty New York, New York" redirects here. For alternate meanings, see New York, New York (disambiguation). New York — officially named City of New York and often called New York City to distinguish it from the state of New York, it's noon at @708. This is confusing and not very intuitive.

Most Internet standards actually use either local civil time with a time zone indicator, or the global UTC time standard.

The proposal timescale was announced October 23October 23 is the 296th day of the year (297th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 69 days remaining. Events 4004 BC The universe was created, according to the Ussher-Lightfoot Calendar. 42 BC Roman Republican civil wars: Second Battle of Phili, 19981998 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar), and was designated the International Year of the Ocean''. Events January January 1998 A massive ice storm, caused by El Nino, strikes New England, southern Ontario and Quebec, resulting, in a ceremony marked by the presence of Nicolas G. Hayek, President and CEO of the Swatch Group, G.N. Hayek, President of Swatch Ltd., and Nicholas NegroponteNicholas Negroponte (born 1943) is a Greek-American computer scientist best known as founder and director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab. Thanks to his personal charisma and his aura of a technological visionary, he has been very suc, founder and director of the MIT Media LabThe MIT Media Lab engages in education and research in the digital technology used for expression and communication. It was founded in 1980 by MIT Professor Nicholas Negroponte and former MIT President Jerome Wiesner (now deceased) and opened its doors in.

During 1999For the album by Prince, see 1999 (album 1999 is a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar), and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the UN. Events Kosovo War Former child star Gary Coleman files for bankruptcy Y2K prep, Swatch produced several models of watch that displayed Swatch Internet Time as well as conventional time, and convinced a few Web sites to use the new format. It is also widely used as a time reference on ICQ. Outside these areas, though, it appears to be infrequently used.