Atomic watches sound pretty crazy, but they are really just very clever watches that can automatically synchronise the time with the very accurate atomic clocks that are positioned around the world.
What Is Atomic Time?
Before we look at what an atomic watch is, we need to understand what the atomic time is. It sounds pretty scary, but really it’s just the art of telling the time by looking at the vibration of an atom.
When you think of old fashion clocks, they all had a pendulum, this would swing back and forth and this steady rhythm was used to keep track of the time. In the 1970s when quartz time keeping was invented, this worked on a similar principle. Instead of a pendulum going back and forth, it was the steady vibration of the tiny quartz crystal that was used to track time.
Atomic time is using the steady vibration of an atom to keep track of time. It is usually the atom of caesium that is measured and the accuracy is insane. Atomic clocks are huge and very complicated involving electromagnetic waves and all sorts of other advanced science. There is only a few of them around the world and they are kept in special labs. It’s these clocks that help set the time as we know it. They are linked with the time zones, GPS and satellites, so they really are pretty important clocks.
A Rolex will be accurate to plus or minus 2 seconds a day. A quartz watch can be accurate to plus or minus 1 second a year. The atomic clock will lose or gain less than second… over 138 million years.
How Do Atomic Watches Work?
You will be glad to know that your atomic watch does not contain any caesium or anything strange like that. In actual fact most atomic watches are actually quartz watches (now often solar powered), but with a built in radio receiver.
An atomic clock is far too big and we haven’t worked out how to shrink them down (any maybe we will never try). This is why there is only a few of them placed around the world. These clocks then send out a radio signal which devices read and keep up to date with the accurate time.
An atomic watch will be able to scan for these radio signals and update the time accordingly. Usually they update every 24hours or so. It doesn’t need to be constantly updating as the quartz movement inside is accurate enough that it will usually not really change much in between updates.
Can This Be Dangerous?
You are already surrounded by radio waves and they are totally harmless. You are probably already surrounded by the signal for the atomic watch, you just need an atomic watch to read this signal and to convert it into the time.
What Happens If They Don’t Get Signal?
If you are not in range and can’t get a signal, nothing will happen. Your watch will just keep telling the time using the last update as its reference. Since there is a quartz inside it will just use this and act like any other quartz watch until it receives it next update.
Not everyone will get signal. There are actually only 6 atomic clocks around the world, so there are quite a few areas that just don’t get signal.
The clocks are located in the USA, Germany, England, China and there are 2 in Japan. The signals they send are pretty strong, they usually reach 1800 miles.
This means that there is only coverage in North America, Western Europe, some of Eastern Europe, a part of China and then all of Japan.
If you are outside of these regions, which a lot of people are, your watch will just work as a quartz watch. You will just have set the time yourself and it will not automatically update.
What If You Change Time Zone Or Country?
Well, again nothing. There are two issues here that mean nothing really happens.
The first issue is that your watch will update once a day, usually in the middle of the night. So even if you go around the world, your watch isn’t going to update itself until it thinks it is in the middle of the night and starts searching for the signal.
This mean when you land, you will still have to update your watch manually. I guess if you watch was left in your bag, it would update the next time it received the signal.
Which leads me on to the second issue… all the signals are different. Which becomes more apparent when you find out a lot of watches are only designed for one region. If you buy an American watch, it won’t work in Europe or Japan and vice versa.
So if you change area, you your atomic watch will not update and it will act as a normal quartz watch that you need to change manually.
Multi Band
Luckily a few watches (mainly Casio’s) have a feature called Multi band and this exactly what it sounds like. It can read multiple radiobands, meaning, it will work all over the world. Where every there is a signal, it will be able to read it.
Are Atomic Watches More Accurate Than Other Watches?
Yes, overall atomic watches are more accurate. The atomic clock is certainly more accurate than anything else we know and as the watches synchronise from this, they are more accurate.
If your watch is regularly getting signal it will be more accurate than a quartz watch, but in reality you may not even notice as quartz watches are pretty good at keeping the correct time. However, you will not need to tweak the time as it will automatically do this for you and compared to a mechanical watch, you will certainly see the difference.
Are They Expensive?
Atomic watches are like most other watches, their prices can range drastically. Casio’s are famous for their low prices and their atomic watches also fall into this. You can find a number of atomic Casios, including G shocks that are more than reasonably priced.
There are also a number of other brands that provide good value for an atomic watch.
Should You Get One?
The science behind an atomic watch is very cool. If you are into watches, owning something like this should certainly be on your list. It is so futuristic compared to a mechanically wound watch. I think it would make to an interesting addition to any watch collection.
However, for day to day life, it will not really make much difference to you. Not many people rely on millisecond accuracy, but it is still nice to know that your watch is this accurate. It’s also good to know your watch will always be correct and since they are usually solar powered as well, you won’t need to replace a battery. You can literally just wear it and it will look after itself for years.
I have however seen atomic watches used in talking watches, which is pretty genius. These are usually for blind people, who press the button and get told the time aurally. Having an atomic watch like this amazing. This time will always be accurate and will update itself, which is pretty important when you can’t actually see, to know if it’s wrong.
(You can read about the Atomic watch that I own – Casio G-Shock Square Watch Review)
Conclusion
The atomic clock is a very important thing for the modern world we live in and being able to tap into this and synchronise our watches to this super accurate time is very cool and very impressive.
It is a totally different experience from a mechanical watch but I still think atomic watches should be respected and enjoyed by all. They really are a huge marvel of human invent
(You might be interested in reading about a different, older style of watch – A Pocket Watch)
Ian is the main writer at Horology Dream and is a lover all things watch related.
He has been a watch collector for over a decade and brings his knowledge and experience to this site to help you on your own watch collecting journey.
You can connect with him on Social media and talk anything watches or read more about him on his Author Page.
