Our Future Clocks and Watches

Abstract

IF clocks are to strike at all, surely once per hour is insufficient, while four times is excessive; the high hour-numbers even now are inconvenient to count, and with the quarters heard alone it is possible to make a mistake of an hour. I cannot but think, then, on the whole, that the necessities of ship-life have long driven mariners into the very best method, free from all difficulties, and that, whatever our way of noting hours, we could do no better than adopt the naval half-hour strikings for land-clocks, recommencing with each four-hour watch. Some confusion with the existing ways, as long as they survive, is inevitable, and equal whatever change is made.