Talk:Marine chronometer
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[edit] WikiProject Time assessment rating comment
Basically a B-class. Certainly High importance, due to its intrinsic contribution to precision longitude calculation.
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—Yamara ✉ 16:42, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Definition and chronometers today
The phrase under Today is inadequate for this article:
"GPS, and atomic clocks, have made mechanical clock-chronometers obsolete."
This is probably true for mechanical watches and chronometers, but it is certainly not true for digital chronometers. As one web site points out, "Murphy's Law was invented on a small boat at sea." GPS units can be lost or fail to work. Signals can be lost. They can also be blocked, or the satellites or transmitters destroyed, in a conflict. The U.S. Coast Guard still requires the knowledge of sextant use for its examination. A precise and accurate chronometer is still needed at sea today.
That leads to the definition in the article of a marine chronometer being mechanical. It need not be. It simply needs to be the most accurate, autonomous clock available for use at sea. --Parsa 01:49, 23 September 2007 (UTC)
