Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: Analog Watch

analog.watch

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 102 posts

Re: Show HN: Analog Watch

#11

Post by aidenn0 »

mikestew wrote: post #8
ventana wrote: post #5

This fun game just made me realize that actually using analog watch does not require converting the time to HH:MM. I've been using analog watch for years, my Apple Watch face is set to analog and, apparently, I read the time as "it's almost 11", but never as "it's 10:58".

The same “kids across the street” I reference in another comment needed translation from “quarter to eleven” when they’d ask the time. Makes sense given they couldn’t read an analog face at the time.

My 18 year old daughter is the same (and also can't read an analog clock). Despite me using "quarter to," "quarter past," and "half past" regularly throughout her life. And we having analog clocks in most communal spaces in our house. And we drilled her on analog clocks for two summers in a row...

Re: Show HN: Analog Watch

#12

Post by woodrowbarlow »

ventana wrote: post #5

This fun game just made me realize that actually using analog watch does not require converting the time to HH:MM. I've been using analog watch for years, my Apple Watch face is set to analog and, apparently, I read the time as "it's almost 11", but never as "it's 10:58".

yeah, i've been using cheap mechanical analog watches and wouldn't trust it to be accurate to-the-minute by the end of the day anyway. i kind of enjoy knowing only the approximate time.

Re: Show HN: Analog Watch

#13

Post by great_psy »

Could this be extended to lean into teaching quantum physics ?

Include seconds/ sub seconds hand in the watch, and people will realize the watch face time + time it takes to read will never equal the watch face time.

You can know the exact time, by looking at the analog watch face, or you can measure it (convert it) but it will not be the same anymore.

Re: Show HN: Analog Watch

#14

Post by ezekg »

cjfeda wrote: post #9

This was fun! Good call on directing to the free play before jumping into the daily challenge. I was disappointed when I realized there was no leader board for the daily challenge.

Thanks for playing. It's been a fun little game I play to make sure I don't embarrass myself when somebody asks me what time it is, since I wear a lot of watches. I'd love to add a global leaderboard, but right now it's all client-side! A server-authoritative leaderboard seemed a bit too complex, especially i.r.t. preventing cheating, but I might tackle it at some point.

Re: Show HN: Analog Watch

#15

Post by SanjayMehta »

ventana wrote: post #5

This fun game just made me realize that actually using analog watch does not require converting the time to HH:MM. I've been using analog watch for years, my Apple Watch face is set to analog and, apparently, I read the time as "it's almost 11", but never as "it's 10:58".

That's because one doesn't usually look at their watch to find out what the time is: most of the time (pun unintended) we want to how much time is left for an activity, or for an activity to start.

As in, how many more minutes before my flight takes off, or how much time left for this exam?

Re: Show HN: Analog Watch

#17

Post by SanjayMehta »

jammaloo wrote: post #10
mikestew wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same “kids across the street” I reference in another comment needed translation from “quarter to eleven” when they’d ask the time. Makes sense given they couldn’t read an analog face at the time.

Similarly, when I moved from the UK to Canada, people often didn't understand what I meant when I said it was "half ten", which is the common way of saying ten thirty, at least where I grew up.

I never heard that when I lived in the UK in the 70s, but only in Ireland in the late 90s.

Re: Show HN: Analog Watch

#19

Post by huflungdung »

SanjayMehta wrote: post #17
jammaloo wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similarly, when I moved from the UK to Canada, people often didn't understand what I meant when I said it was "half ten", which is the common way of saying ten thirty, at least where I grew up.

I never heard that when I lived in the UK in the 70s, but only in Ireland in the late 90s.

[dead]

Re: Show HN: Analog Watch

#20

Post by ezekg »

austinthetaco wrote: post #6

my only issue is that it cares if you are off by 1 minute, meanwhile in the real world a lot of analog clocks have continuously moving minutes and a lot of others have ticking minutes (they only move right at the minute mark).

Appreciate the feedback! It cares, yeah, but being off-by-a-minute doesn't really dock your overall score very much. I figured without that, a "perfect" would be much less meaningful.
Post reply on HN