Article  An Atomic Watch Allows for Unerringly Precise Time Imagine having a watch that you never have to set and that always knows the exact time and date. By receiving transmissions from official United States calibration signals, an atomic watch allows for extremely precise timekeeping. An atomic watch eliminates the need for adjusting watch settings for Daylight Saving Time. In addition to consistently accurate time, atomic watches also feature perpetual calendars that automatically compensate for Leap Year and inconsistencies from month to month. Atomic watches may also be referred to as radio control watches or wave receptor watches. In the United States, an atomic watch receives a daily radio signal from the U.S. Atomic Clock in Ft. Collins, Colorado. The internal antenna is programmed to search once a day for the signal sent out by the U.S. Atomic Clock, which has a radius of 1864 miles. The signal can therefore reach most of the United States, except for Alaska and Hawaii. The U.S. Atomic Clock is maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. It uses quantum mechanical principles rather than quartz oscillations to calculate an extremely accurate time that it sends to your atomic watch. Atomic watches are programmed to search for the signal at night, when there is less radio interference. By accessing the watch’s synchronization display, you can easily see when it last received a signal. Your atomic watch will also have a function that allows you to manually command it to search for the transmission if for some reason the time needs to be reset, such as when you are traveling or when you replace the battery. Keep in mind that if you do change the battery and program the watch to search for the signal, it may take reset within minutes, or it may take several days before it finds the signal and begins displaying the correct time again. There is no function on an atomic watch for you to manually set the time. Atomic watches are also available in solar powered models, which eliminates the need to change a battery entirely. For an atomic watch to display the correct time, it first has to know what time zone you are in. Atomic watches features a time zone setting, which allows you to specify your location within the United States. When you travel between time zones in the United States, rather than resetting the time on your atomic watch, you simply have to adjust the time zone setting. When the watch receives the transmission from the atomic clock, it references its internal time zone setting and uses that information to translate the U.S. Atomic Time to the proper time zone. Can your old Timex watch do that? Probably not. When you travel out of the range of the Ft. Collins transmitter, such as when you are traveling overseas, your atomic watch will function as a regular quartz watch. Europe and Japan also have official atomic clocks, but the frequencies used overseas cannot be read by an atomic watch designed for use in the United States. Your atomic watch may not synchronize every night if the transmission is blocked. This can be caused by a variety of factors, such as heavy shielding from buildings, being in a safe, or by being too close to power lines or electrical equipment. However, your atomic watch does not need to synchronize every night to maintain its accuracy. It is also useful to note that since an atomic watch is solely a receiver and not a transmitter, they do not emit any radio waves that could harm electrical equipment. Unlike cell phones, which both send and receive transmission, atomic watches are also safe to use around hospital equipment. So if you wish to have a highly accurate watch that pretty much sets itself, an atomic watch is for you. If you purchase a solar powered model, you don’t have to change the battery either. Now that’s an awesome watch! Category Shopping Author Anonymous Add To Favorites Print This Article Email Article To A Friend Post Comments   Rate This Article (0) 1 - Poor2345 - Good678910 - Excellent Added On Fri Aug 21st,2009