Swatch Internet Time & Date System
Swatch Internet Time
Swatch Internet Time, also known as .beat time, is a decimal time concept where a day is divided into 1000 units called "beats." Each beat lasts for 1 minute and 26.4 seconds (86.4 seconds). This system eliminates the need for hours and minutes in the traditional sense, using only beats to measure time from 000.000 at midnight UTC to 999.999 at the end of the day.
Swatch Date System
The Swatch Date System complements the Swatch Internet Time by providing a unique way to track dates:
- Swatch Day: A day in this system is defined as 1000 beats. Therefore, when the Swatch Time reaches 999.999, it rolls over to 000.000, marking the start of a new Swatch Day.
- Swatch Month: A month in the Swatch Date system consists of 1000 Swatch Days. When the Swatch Day count hits 999 and moves to 0, it signifies the beginning of a new Swatch Month.
- Swatch Year: A year here is made up of 1000 Swatch Months. Thus, when the Swatch Month count goes from 999 to 0, a new Swatch Year begins.
This system does not follow the traditional Gregorian calendar or account for leap years, seasons, or cultural holidays. Instead, it offers a continuous, decimal-based approach to both time and date, where each unit (beat, day, month, year) is a straightforward multiple of the one before it, simplifying calculations and providing a uniform measure of time across the globe.
Here's how you might read a Swatch date-time:
- Year: The number of complete cycles of 1,000,000,000 beats since the epoch (Year 0).
- Month: The count within the year, where 0 to 999 represents the months.
- Day: The day within the month, from 0 to 999.
- Time: The current beat time within the day, ranging from 000.000 to 999.999.
This unique dating system, combined with Swatch Internet Time, provides an alternative way to conceptualize time, focusing on decimal precision and global synchronization, rather than traditional timekeeping methods.