Leap Second

[Barry Allen]

Does anyone know how G-Shock Wave Ceptor watches handle Leap Seconds? I'm just curious because there is one coming up this June 30th and I would love to be able to catch a video clip of the watch turning over 61 seconds in one minute if it will be shown on the display.

 

[chrisek]

Not sure if it will display. It will sync once per night so will most likely make it up on the following sync

sent with aloha

 

[Barry Allen]

I will have to wait and see. The WWVB time signal includes a Leap Second warning to tell clocks that there will be a Leap Second at the end of the month, so the flag is in the signal for all of June. The Leap Second should be added at 23:59:60 UTC on 30JUN so it will be interesting to see if my watch display gives an extra second just before 7pm Central Time.

 

[BACKBLAST72]

Barry,
Where are you going to find this info; would be nice to know the site, it sounds really interesting.

 

[Barry Allen]

Barry,
Where are you going to find this info; would be nice to know the site, it sounds really interesting.

Information about Leap Seconds can be found here with a pretty thorough explanation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_second

Information about the WWVB time signal is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWVB

The basic explanation is that once or twice a year there is an extra second added to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) to keep it in sync with the rotation of the Earth that slows due to tidal action. The Leap Seconds are added either at the end of 30 JUN or 31 DEC, meaning there is currently once or twice a year that the clock counts 60 seconds before it flips over to 00 in a new minutes. This happens simultaneously around the globe at 23:59:60 so it is at different hours in different time zones. A properly programmed clock will give very rare displays of this Leap second:

http://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/AP120630169536-2.jpg

My question is whether some Casio watches are properly programmed to display this Leap Seconds. The user manuals seem to indicate that the watch can handle Leap Seconds but without detail. There are two things I can think of: A) the watch just syncs with the next time signal and adjusts to match that, or B) the watch is programmed to add a second at the end of the months when the Leap Signal flag is broadcast by WWVB. If B is correct it will be interesting to watch a humble digital wristwatch turn over to 60 seconds.

 

[Hizoomi]

I have a Wave Ceptor solar analog, and this morning for the first time EVER it did not synchronize at midnight, after having spent the night at the same place and position as always (since I got it at Christmas). The only thing different I can think of was that this was the night of the leap second.

-Charles

 

[Simm0]

I have the Gravity master GPW-1000-1B, ever since the leap second it hasn't accounted for the adjustment when doing a gps time sync and is running a second fast. Anyone have a similar issue?

 

[dynosaur]

Interesting topic, it'll be nice if G-Shocks can handle Leap seconds. Someone knowledgeable, kindly please chime in.