Which watch do you prefer for sight timekeeping

[ghostlymoron]

I use one of themickey mousese - quartz accuracy!

Unlike my typing

 

[jwilson]

Hi,

I am just thinking of investing in a replacement watch for timing of sights and wondered what you knowledgable old salts used or would like to use?

Do we need to go down the expensive route?
Is digital better than analogue?
Is there a prefered make / model?

I shouldn't think there is a right or wrong answer to this as it is subject to personal preference, I am just curious!

Pagan

Two cheap Casio waterproofs, check them for a few months before, you will be surprised how consistent (and accurate) they are. One on your wrist, the other stowed below as a spare for when the wrist strap gets caught on a shround and breaks.

Anything more expensive is unlikely to be much more accurate.

 

[dulcibella]

Basic Casio does the job - I check the timiing over a few weeks (has consistently gained 1 sec per week for several years), note the date of correction in the sight log and take it from there. My model has the bonus that, if really bored on night watch, I can look at the dolphin that swims across the face ever minute. Mad? Yes, but we do this sailing thing for interest, so it doesn't matter if the technology is obsolete.

 

[Neil]

Well, by all accounts, you can forget Rolex, Breitling, Audemars et al: the most accurate watch is the Citizen Chronomaster, with the A660 quartz movement, accurate to ± 5s per year. Not that I could afford one of those either, they are not cheap.......

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

Perfect timing every time.

http://www.rolex.com/en/rolex-watches/submariner

 

[Vara]

Mechanical, wrist worn watches do not cut the mustard for consistent time keeping.

They are nice though.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

+1 for Casio wrist watch, bought 3 in a garage (about £5 each) the night before my first transatlantic, set them all against the speaking clock. Worked fine, always made my landfalls as expected, more or less in the vicinity. I would not trust them for a high degree of accuracy though.

 

[TQA]

When I was using celestial for real in the early 90s I bought two cheap Casios and checked them for accuracy for a month before I left the UK.

I used a plastic Ebbco sextant and stuck one of the Casios to the side of the Ebbco. Took the sight then the time. Worked for me for four years.

Bought a Garmin as soon as the handhelds became affordable, boy was it good to be able to identify exactly WHICH island I was looking at in the Bahamas when each was identified by red roofed house and conspicious stand of casuarinas in the guide.

 

[JackFrobisher]

The Answer (mine anyway)

Hi,

I am just thinking of investing in a replacement watch for timing of sights and wondered what you knowledgable old salts used or would like to use?

Do we need to go down the expensive route?
Is digital better than analogue?
Is there a prefered make / model?

I shouldn't think there is a right or wrong answer to this as it is subject to personal preference, I am just curious!

Pagan

No right or wrong answer - absolutely. If you want accuracy and you're a bit retentive about it (I'll admit I am) then I'd recommend a Casio Waveceptor Tough Solar. It's both analogue and digital, it's always correct when you're in range of an atomic clock transmitter (Europe, USA & Japan) and never needs a battery or a wind-up because it's solar-powered. There's a titanium-cased one if you want it to be extra light as well.

If you're going out of range of one of the transmitters then the problem of predicting the watch's rate of error is the same as any uncorrected watch/clock. My recent experience of going out of range for two weeks in Vietnam, and I made point of checking, showed no perceptable error.

 

[nigelmercier]

I'd like a digital clock that you could stop the hands like a stopwatch...

How about a radio controlled watch with a stopwatch? You start the stopwatch at a known time, then stop it when you take the sight.

 

[ghostlymoron]

How about a radio controlled watch with a stopwatch? You start the stopwatch at a known time, then stop it when you take the sight.

If you're going to use astro, I would assume you are ocean crossing so would a radio controlled watch work when a long way from Milton Keynes (or whereever the control is). Also the whole advantage of astro is that it doesn't need any external input and so a simple timekeeping device is what you need. J Slocum used a 1$ alarm clock with one hand and he didn't do so bad.

 

[prv]

J Slocum used a 1$ alarm clock with one hand and he didn't do so bad.

He also didn't use the particular astro techniques that are the norm these days, and which do require accurate time. Presumably his method ("lunar distances" rings a bell, no idea what's involved) is still feasible today, but not many people know how.

Pete

 

[RobbieW]

Tom Cunliff has suggested that nowadays (or near future) the best way to get time for astro nav anywhere in the world is to read it of a handheld GPS unit...

Bit slow seeing this, however IIRC GPS time and GMT arent necessarily, and dont need to be, the same. A later post (still havent figured out how to include more than one post to quote) has observed significant differences between the two.

I sailed with one of the implementors of the GPS system for a short while years ago & I'm sure I got this from him. Basically all the GPS system needs to have is exactly the same time at each of the satellite units, that time could just as easily be Mayan as GMT - it doesnt matter for the design. Again iirc, the Selective Availability error was introduced by 'jittering' the time signal to introduce a positional instability.

 

[RobbieW]

He also didn't use the particular astro techniques that are the norm these days, and which do require accurate time. Presumably his method ("lunar distances" rings a bell, no idea what's involved) is still feasible today, but not many people know how.

Having just waded through Jonathan Raban's 'Passage to Juneau', many references are made to lunar navigation. According to Raban, who uses many historic references as a counterpoise to his own voyage up the Inside Passage from Seattle to Juneau, George Vancouver was an expert user, and exponent, of lunar navigation. Although the Harrison clocks were available, they werent accurate over a long enough period for Vancouver's needs in his late 18th century explorations.

 

[alan_d]

Two themes consistently recur on this forum:
1. You get what you pay for ...
2. Where your family's safety is at stake, you would never forgive yourself if you saved money on ....

If you believe both of the above, the answer has to be the Admirals Cup Challenge 44. A real bargain at £5,550.00 (including FREE DELIVERY).