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There's a mechanical watch feature called a “hack”

hachyderm.io

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Re: There's a mechanical watch feature called a “hack”

#51

Post by mherdeg »

dave_universetf wrote: post #41
ghostpepper wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great post! This has nothing to do with watches per se but I was wondering which war movies include soldiers shouting "Hack!" because I can't remember ever hearing it in a film.

There's a sibling thread making the same point, and: yeah, I overgeneralized on that bit. The instance I had in mind was the M.A.S.H. TV show, which has a couple exchanges involving "hack" for time synchronization (unsurprisingly, by the most over the top soldierly characters). All I can offer as a defense is that it was late and I assumed that I couldn't remember others for that reason. But looking around now, film…

Reading this writeup, the procedure takes up to two minutes:

* each person in the room pulls up the stem when their individual second hand is pointing at 0, and also sets the time to the prearranged hour/minute,

* then everyone waits a bit longer until this is done;

* after another minute, everyone pushes down the stem simultaneously

Is there an alternative where you could have some way to force your second hand to the 0 position rather than waiting up to a minute for it to get there on its own then freeze it?

I do see why hacking is nice for time zone changes.

Re: There's a mechanical watch feature called a “hack”

#52

Post by rconti »

hinkley wrote: post #10
griffinkelly wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in the Air National Guard, and its very much a thing. Typically at the beginning or end of a brief/meeting when you're about to go out and do something.

But it's not a thing in movies, so nobody wonders why they say that in movies. Because nobody says that in movies. It's been 'synchronize watches' since WWII movies became a thing.

I've never heard "hack" in this context either. "On my mark!" is what I think of.

Re: There's a mechanical watch feature called a “hack”

#54

Post by AdamN »

jh00ker wrote: post #50

>So, there was great interest in developing a timekeeping mechanism that didn't rely on gravity. "Great interest" is an understatement! The full story can be found in "Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time" by Dava Sobel Cheap book, quick read, fascinating story! https://amzn.to/465h1ij

I recount this story alot - especially about the vestigial parts in the mark 1 clock and also about how the clockmaker reduced the size of the clock in the mark 3 to a large pocketwatch size in order to increase accuracy (finer parts).

Re: There's a mechanical watch feature called a “hack”

#55

Post by halgir »

ferongr wrote: post #4
matthewtse wrote: post #3

Interestingly, hacking seconds have become so ubiquitous, that some watches will advertise the "lack" of hacking seconds. I.e. in the Rolex GMT, when you adjust the hour hand independently of the seconds hand, the seconds hand continues moving (non-hacking), which allows you to change the time zone when traveling without messing up the seconds hand that you previously already setup.

Which is completely asinine, as mechanical watches, even expensive ones are inaccurate by many seconds every day.

They're so perfectly imperfect, and that's why we love them.

Re: There's a mechanical watch feature called a “hack”

#56

Post by ohdannyboy »

kqr wrote: post #53

Clock people have great words for things. Their word for features is "complications".

The subject of timekeeping is called horology. For collectors/ enthusiasts I've been trying to popularize the term hormonger, but it hasn't caught on yet.

Re: There's a mechanical watch feature called a “hack”

#57

Post by xorcist »

kqr wrote: post #53

Clock people have great words for things. Their word for features is "complications".

The more you think about it, that term is great. It makes us focus on maintenance, not building. I wonder if clock people naturally have a longer perspective because they work on mechanical things.

I will try to use this term in software development too. Wish me luck.

Re: There's a mechanical watch feature called a “hack”

#59

Post by leokennis »

ShamelessC wrote: post #34

Unrelated, but using Mastodon without a login is a breath of fresh air compared to the shit show that is Twitter.

So true. X will randomly not show replies, or only half of them, or just show you the "register or login" modal. I've stopped clicking links to Phony Stark's glory blazing shitshow.

Re: There's a mechanical watch feature called a “hack”

#60

Post by pests »

kqr wrote: post #53

Clock people have great words for things. Their word for features is "complications".

I never understood where the term came from and I also have an avid interest in watching mechanical watch teardowns/rebuilds on YT.

This explains everything and I've never had a more clearer click of understanding in my life.

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