What watch would they take to colony Mars?

**I-B** · Mar 9, 2015, 05:41 PM

I now a Mars-day is shorter than a Earth-day, but recalibrating-issues aside, what would be the ideal Mars watch? There are plans to start a colony there, so a watch (to keep in pass with earth) should meet specific requirements.
IMO it would be a solid solarpowered watch. Mechanic's need maintenance and quartz need battery's, so the logical thing would be a solarpowered watch, or am i wrong?

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**whatmeworry** · Mar 9, 2015, 07:41 PM

Originally Posted by I-B

I now a Mars-day is shorter than a Earth-day, but recalibrating-issues aside, what would be the ideal Mars watch? There are plans to start a colony there, so a watch (to keep in pass with earth) should meet specific requirements.
IMO it would be a solid solarpowered watch. Mechanic's need maintenance and quartz need battery's, so the logical thing would be a solarpowered watch, or am i wrong?

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Views: 168
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I don't think that necessarily follows.
I read an interesting novel called Containment recently about a colony on another planet (forget which). Time measurement was controlled by a central computer in the colony (which was of course extremely accurate) and everything (computers, watches, life support systems, etc) was linked to that. In a nice twist, several of the characters wore mechanical watches which, because they were completely independent of the computer, could be used to make sure its timekeeping hadn't gone awry because of a virus of malfunction.

**GlennO** · Mar 10, 2015, 12:46 AM

According to this the Martian day is slightly (2.7%) longer than earth's?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timekeeping_on_Mars

I wonder if the sun's strength would be sufficient for a solar watch, though bright artificial light might be enough anyway. If not, I imagine kinetic would be a good choice and it may not be too long before true atomic wristwatches are available.

**I-B** · Mar 10, 2015, 08:56 AM

Originally Posted by GlennO

According to this the Martian day is slightly (2.7%) longer than earth's?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timekeeping_on_Mars

I wonder if the sun's strength would be sufficient for a solar watch, though bright artificial light might be enough anyway. If not, I imagine kinetic would be a good choice and it may not be too long before true atomic wristwatches are available.

A while ago someone (i think it was Geoffbot, but i'm not sure) posted a "atomic" watch here, i believe it was the first in it's kind and i think it's for sale allready, but it's a butt-ugly piece...

**whatmeworry** · Mar 10, 2015, 09:01 AM

Originally Posted by I-B

A while ago someone (i think it was Geoffbot, but i'm not sure) posted a "atomic" watch here, i believe it was the first in it's kind and i think it's for sale allready, but it's a butt-ugly piece...

It's a Bathys I think