Hello all. I’ve always been a digital clock user, but I am trying to get myself used to reading an analog watch.
For the most part it’s fine, taking me several extra seconds over digital so far.
But one thing I am struggling with is discerning the exact minute. Because the minute hand slowly moves over time as opposed to ticking, I have trouble telling whether or not it’s say…9:22 or 9:23 for example.
Because when the time is say…9:22 and 5 seconds, the hand will clearly be on the 9:22 mark. But when it’s 9:22 and 45 seconds, it looks like it’s actually 9:23 when it isn’t yet.
Is this just always a limitation that I’m stuck with using analog? How precise are you all with analog clocks? Is there a way I can more quickly determine the exact minute?
Thanks!
I grew up with analog clocks and can read them at a glance.
For the most part, I don’t really care precisely about minute. E.g. the analog clock in my kitchen is only used to tell me that it’s “roughly 2 minutes past 5 soon” and it’s enough for me to put the potatoes on.
If I need to know precisely whether it’s 16:03 vs 16:04, I use a digital clock. Though mostly because my analog clocks are not precisely synced at all times.
Back when analog was the norm, nobody cared about a minute here or there unless they had some specific profession. Like, the bus came “15:15 ish maybe 5 minutes early maybe 10 minutes late”. Today the schedule says “15:17”
Today in the digital age, the bus schedule says “15:17”
And the bus might show up about twenty past three, if you’re lucky
Today in the digital age, the bus schedule says “15:17”
Yeah essentially lol. That’s one of the reasons I had never been super into analog clocks beforehand.
I think of analog time as kinda a pie chart telling me how much of the minute and hour that’s elapsed. So I don’t see 13:45, I see 75% past one o’clock.
Does that make sense?
If I’m bored, sure. Otherwise it’s to the nearest 5 minutes
The concept of numbers doesn’t come up. The way the hands are conveys the fraction of the hour or half day that has passed. There’s never a need to know the exact number, time is continuous and not discrete. The minute hand will move fractional minutes, too.
It takes time to get used to it, no pun intended. Everything is easier with practice.
Those of us who grew up with analog clocks can read them at a glance. If you are new to them, it’ll probably take you a few months (or more) of daily use before you can tell time at a glance.
Growing up with only Analog, it just was a quick glance. You didn’t even have to stop and read it, because you glance and have a mental image of the hand positions that you could compare in your head.
Does your watch have clearly marked minutes and a second hand? If its not quite at the minute mark you know its before 9:23, but if its so close you can’t tell then the seconds hand will show you if its before or after the 60seconds spot.
But also, that’s how Analog is, and unless you have a very precise watch, a regular watch will gain or lose time daily and so the preciseness of 9:23 will be invalid anyway.
It does have a second hand, but I don’t really look at it much to tell the time.
It’s not that I can’t tell the minutes when it is between numbers, it’s that it will already look like it’s 9:23 because the minute hand has effectively nearly covered the 9:23 minute mark despite it being 9:22:45 or something. Seems to be a limitation of analog clocks unless I am just not great at discerning these things. Unless people also generally look at the second hand when reading them??
Tbh it’s actually a smartwatch and not technically an actual analog watch, so I’m assuming the exact time is pretty accurate. I just want to start using analog watch faces more on it to make it look nicer haha. Plus brushing up on my skill!
If its a smart display of analog it could be the hand positions have preprogrammed locations and not that is an accurate and smooth transition between the actual progression.
I get what you mean. I think it might vary by which watch face I am using on my particular watch. I notice that in general the minute hand for the face I am using is very granular…it definitely doesn’t just stop at the minute marks or even just halfway in between the minute marks. The one I am using seems to be more fluid than that. I was watching it closely just now and I see the minute hand ticking away ever so slightly as the second hand moves.
Did you know digital clocks experience drift? Your computer can’t keep accurate track of time, it generally uses the NTP to synchronize time.
Your smart watch either has access to the internet and or syncs to your phone time.
Your analog clock displayed on a digital smart watch also make have inaccuracies due to the processor and the load on it, the refresh rate of the screen, etc.
Yeah it syncs to my phone which is also always constantly connected to the internet.
I have a non internet connected cheapo digital clock in my room and it goes off by a minute or so now and then and it bothers me enough to have to change it lol.
For you, what’s the value in reading the exact minute? (genuine question, not snark!) In your example it looks like it’s 9:23 but it’s actually 9:22:45… Is that a problem? Probably by the time you do anything with that information fifteen seconds will have passed and it will be 9:23.
For most people, I think analogue is more of vibes way of telling time. You don’t need to know that it’s 7:47 you just glance and see it’s almost ten to eight, and you have to leave soon. I find that I’m basically translating digital time into those approximation anyway. If you like that kinda vagueness and have an android watch then I’d recommend Twelveish as a watch face.
I guess there really isn’t a ton of value tbh! I guess it’s just that I’ve basically always had access to the exact time and anything else feels a bit less than. Things like getting ready in the morning and keeping track of the exact minute I know I have to leave by to get to work comfortably, people asking me for the time and giving them a time off by a minute is socially awkward if they double check, or something like knowing that I want to bake something in the oven for exactly 12 minutes without having to set a timer.
“Vibes” is honestly a good way to put it lol
I grew up when even digital clocks were off by a couple minutes or more because they weren’t centrally connected to something that kept them accurate. Heck, my phone and computer clocks aren’t always exactly in sync down to the second.
I prefer analogue clocks most of the time because it lets me know roughly how much time is left until something at a glance instead of needing to calculate it in my head.
Yeah it seems like most of the comments here that actually understood my question (many of them seem to think I’m asking for instructions on how to read the hours and minutes) seem to have this kind of attitude. The attitude that analog clocks aren’t necessarily for precision, but for a general “vibe” for lack of a better term at what time it is. I guess having constant connection to Internet clocks with precise minutes and seconds has made me pretty anal about time for whatever reason. I guess maybe I need to learn to chill out more?? Lol
It’s not a limitation but a matter of precision. The position of the minute hand tells you how far into that minute you are. You don’t need that information, of course. You can just say whatever mark it’s closest to. At 1:00:58, although a digital clock would still read 1:00, it is by all accounts much more accurate to round the minute to 1:01.
So if you just call the time by the minute your minute hand appears closest to, you’ll often be more accurate than a digital clock. It won’t matter. But you’ll know it’s true.
I used to read analog clocks to the nearest five minutes. It’s just a quick glance and you (used to) rarely need to be that exact.
However my kids never got used to analog clocks despite an annoying number scattered throughout our house. It takes them too long to process what I mean by “quarter of”. They’re in college this year so it’s time to surrender in that battle. Now I’m the one who spends too much time reading analog clocks, trying to read them to nearest minute.
With digital clocks everywhere, gps exact trip times, scheduled meetings, society has gotten much more exact with time anyway. Being within five minutes is no longer good enough
Fun fact - I was 23 and studying for my MSc before I learned how to read analogue clocks.
If you’re after speed, all I can suggest is that you’ve got to embrace the old-people habit of using the nearest 5 minute mark and accept that level of accuracy.
- “Quarter past”
- “It’s just gone quarter-past”
- “It’s nearly twenty-past”
- “Twenty past”
Its six – five = (approx) 06:25:00 (notice minute hand is pointing at 5)
its seven – eight’n’half = (approx) 08:42:05 (minute hand pointing between 8 and 9)
I just do quick maths, I have multiplication table memorized from all the way to 9, since first grade.
They literally make a “poem” on multiplication table in mainland China where I was from (all the way to 9x9, but multiples of 10 is obvious so they ommitted it, afiak).
So my thought process is:
一五的五 (1, 5 = 5)
二五一十 (2, 5, 10)
三五十五 (3, 5, 15)
四五二十 (4, 5, 20)
五五二十五 (5, 5, 25)
五六三十 (5, 6, 30)
五七三十五 (5, 7, 35)
五八四十 (5, 8, 40)
五九四十五 (5, 9, 45)
(this is the point where my thoughts switch away from mandarin and just thinking pure numbers)
5 x 10 = 50
5 x 11 = 55
5 x 12 = wait… no need, its just 0 mins againSo yea just remember how to recall the “poem” out of thin air and summon the numbers, takes about like 1-2 seconds, mandarin being 1 sylable per charater make it easier to remember (七七四十九 – 5 sylables vs “Seven times seven is fourty nine” – 9 sylables). Sorry I don’t know how everyone else do multiplication tables, my brain works differently, but funny thing is, 11x11 to 14x14 really messed with my brain since it only goes to 9x9
(Yes I typed all that just to show off how they literally crammed a weird entire multiplication “poem” in my head that’s still stuck in my head to this day when I’m no longer in the country lolz. Sorry for the boring wall of text xD)
Edit: typos
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned Parallax Error yet.
Because when the time is say…9:22 and 5 seconds, the hand will clearly be on the 9:22 mark. But when it’s 9:22 and 45 seconds, it looks like it’s actually 9:23 when it isn’t yet.
The best way to avoid this error is to look exactly straight on at the watch or clock, which isn’t always possible for wall clocks. If you look from an angle, it is easier to mistake the time for 9:23 or 9:21 when it is really 9:22. This is a physical limitation of any measurement gauge or dial.
The other bit of information is the second hand, if you have one.
My mental algorithm goes something like this, it i were to step through it slowly:
- General impression of the clock. The shape of the hour and minute hand together. I recognize the approximate time: a few minutes past 9:20. This is usually sufficient precision for my needs.
- Minute hand fine position: somewhere between 9:22 and 9:23.
- Second hand position: at 45 seconds. I now know the time is 9:22:45.
This gets faster with practice. Instead of having to work out the time, you’ll just know it, the more you do it.
Memorize visually how far into a new minute marker the hand is when a new minute ticks over. So the moment it switches from 9:22 to 9:23, is the hand directly over the line, or maybe aligned on the left edge? Then use that as a mental model for future comparisons
You don’t need to memorize it really, just have to generalize the position of the minute hand past the last round number. Is it about 40% between the 2 and the 3, then that’s a 12.
Step one: where is hour hand? Is it on a number or after? Is it approaching a new number? This is already enough to estimate.
Step two: where is minute hand? Is it on a number, or after? Is it approaching a new number? Dead center?
This is enough to get precise time within about 90s.
If the hour hand is a little past 5, I know the minute hand is between 12 and 4. Oh, it’s between the 2 and 3. Closer to the 2 but definitely past it.
It’s 5:12. Maybe 5:13. Maybe 5:11. Probably 5:12.
Years and years of use of analog clocks helps.
I wear an analog with a blank face so I just round to the latest 5 minute increment. But if I need the exact time I just check my phone or another clock/watch with a numbered face
It depends, but in most cases I can’t determine the exact minute on an analog clock. In practice, the quickest way is to choose the worse case.
