> To add on to all that, if a ship is rolling and pitching like you describe your chances of an accurate sight are very low
You as a human wouldn't shoot a line in those conditions, no.
The point is that mechanical clock mechanisms endure those conditions .. the rise and fall of tempreture, the rise and fall of air pressure, the shock of acceleration (even when sharply reduced by a gimbal mount).
The error bar over months at sea is the tension betwen the drift effect of all those conditions and normalising complications - gimbal mounts, the use of bimetallic strips to counter tempreture change expansions, etc.
In dead calm conditions a mechanical clock at sea carries the accumulated drift baggage of past storms and heatwaves.
Circling back to quartz oscillators, my question above goes to prompting others to ask themselves if an electronic oscillator regulated by a quartz crystal shows any performance differences over a year when harsh real world physical usage conditions are compared to ideal controlled test conditions.
Does temperature affect the oscillator, does humidty, air pressure, accumulated shock forces, etc.
Addendum:
I cant imagine why an instrument that is ~40x less precise would offer more precise timekeeping
~ @dghlsakjg
I'm having some difficulty understanding how [..] will have less of an effect on a fragile mechanical system than a tuned electronic one.
~ @TheOtherHobbes
I've reread both my comments above and I'm having some difficulty seeing they can be read to take away a claim that a mechanical marine clock is more accurate than a quartz timekeeping mechanism. Both comments address accuracy in harsh variable conditions versus stable STP lab conditions.
A mechanical timepiece that calls itself a marine chronometer has to be accurate to +-0.5 seconds per day.
The most accurate quartz wristwatch is certified accurate to +-5 seconds per year.
My experience, in the exact harsh real world conditions that you are talking about, is that is a realistic expectation for quartz watch to accomplish. I cant imagine why an instrument that is ~40x less precise would offer more precise timekeeping
You as a human wouldn't shoot a line in those conditions, no.
The point is that mechanical clock mechanisms endure those conditions .. the rise and fall of tempreture, the rise and fall of air pressure, the shock of acceleration (even when sharply reduced by a gimbal mount).
The error bar over months at sea is the tension betwen the drift effect of all those conditions and normalising complications - gimbal mounts, the use of bimetallic strips to counter tempreture change expansions, etc.
In dead calm conditions a mechanical clock at sea carries the accumulated drift baggage of past storms and heatwaves.
Circling back to quartz oscillators, my question above goes to prompting others to ask themselves if an electronic oscillator regulated by a quartz crystal shows any performance differences over a year when harsh real world physical usage conditions are compared to ideal controlled test conditions.
Does temperature affect the oscillator, does humidty, air pressure, accumulated shock forces, etc.
Addendum:
~ @dghlsakjg ~ @TheOtherHobbesI've reread both my comments above and I'm having some difficulty seeing they can be read to take away a claim that a mechanical marine clock is more accurate than a quartz timekeeping mechanism. Both comments address accuracy in harsh variable conditions versus stable STP lab conditions.
See also: Precision vs. Accuracy - https://manoa.hawaii.edu/exploringourfluidearth/physical/wor...