zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

I asked the nice people at Omega about 'accuracy', and this is what Daniel Anselmi replied with:

Standards of accuracy
The first electric clock, built in 1840, is ascribed to the Englishman Alexander Bain.

In Switzerland, Matthias Hipp a designer and promoter of electric clocks and means of distributing time over an entire network, built his first electric clock about 1860. Call the "Hipp Relay, an ultra sensible relay supplied the Neuchâtel Observatory signal to the specialists of precision workshops.

The constructional principle of these clocks is still in use today on the side of the electronic or atomic clocks.

Observatory clocks

The regulators used as time references for precision adjustment of chronometers contests always went in threes, so that if for any reason one lost its precision, it would be immediately detected by comparison with the two others. The accuracy of these three regulators was verified each day at 08h31 a.m. by means of a "coincidence" clock electrically driven by the standard time of Neuchâtel Observatory to which Omega was connected through the Bienne School of Watchmaking, then by direct telephone line.

So there you have it. I've also just watched the DVD of 'Longitude' and that answwers a few questions too. One has to marvel at the abilities of Mr John Harrison and his marine chronometers!