Clock Drift - Clock Drift in Normal Clocks

Clock Drift in Normal Clocks

Normal clocks such as clocks at home and wristwatches usually drift compared to the actual time. This is why it is necessary to reset them occasionally. Clocks often drift differently depending on their quality, the exact power they get from the battery, the surrounding temperature and other environmental variables. Thus the same clock can have different clock drift rates at different occasions.

Mechanical watches drift much more than quartz ones, but they are designed to drift ahead rather than behind, so that the watch gains time, making it easier to set the time to the second with the hack (stop mechanism) function.

More advanced clocks and old mechanical clocks often have some kind of speed trimmer where one can adjust the speed of the clock and thus reduce the clock drift. For instance, in pendulum clocks the clock drift can be manipulated by slightly changing the length of the pendulum. The formula of Fast drift is dc/dt>1.

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