Solar Atomic Watches - Why They'll Keep You on Time
From leap years, to Daylight Saving Time (DST) an atomic watch will be automatically reset so you don"t have to think about it . Containing an antenna in its internal workings that will seek the sixty kHz radio frequency that is sent from the WWVB transmitter at Ft. Collins each day. As the the frequency is picked up, the time is deciphered then reset. With a radius of 1864 miles the Colorado transmitter is accessible to the majority of the USA (except Alaska and Hawaii).If you travel to another time zone you will have to manually change the time zone setting of the watch. Your watch is programmed to decipher the radio signals it receives in the time zone it is in, your watch contains programming for each state and time zone in the USA so you need to select the time zone you are in manually then the watch will do the rest, until GPS is integrated into atomic watches. I"m guessing that this will be the next stage of development.
Do atomic watches work if they can"t pick up the signal? Yep! With battery or solar powering your watch it will still tell the time but as it won"t have picked up the radio frequency from the atomic watch it won"t be telling the synchronized exact time. Common things that may affect your watch receiving the signal are for example being very close to power lines, being shielded by a large building, interference from electronic gadgets or keeping your watch in a safe . However, the watch will continue to look for the signal each night, so even if it only synchronizes twice weekly it will still be running very accurately.
While your watch will work perfectly well as a quartz watch when you travel overseas it will not be receiving the radio signal to update the time. Europe does have Atomic clocks but the frequency differs to that used in the US though some of the more expensive atomic watches do contain the ability to read these frequencies.
In my opinion, the 2 best brands on the market making atomic watch Casio and Maximilian which both offer a range of models across a price range.