Riding two time waves...

I have mentioned previously (and posted pictures of) two radio controlled watches:

• Oceanus OCWM700TDA (look here)
• Citizen Skyhawk AT Titanium - JY0010-50E (look here - below this post)

I had Oceanus for last 9 months, and Skyhawk for one month. Lets start by listing the similarities:

• both are solar powered,
• both synchronize atomic reference clocks via radio waves,
  
• both are totally encased in titanium.

We can say that both meet my key requirements for ideal watch. But they have some differences:

• Oceanus looks better: it has sapphire crystal glass, is thinner, looks more 'classic'.
• Skyhawk has small liquid crystal displays, which makes many functions so much easier (time zone change, alarm setting, etc.)
• Oceanus can synchronize with one more atomic clock - the one in UK; Skyhawk works with US, German, and Japanese clocks.
  
• Stop watch on Oceanus is useless: the minutes are counted by the small hand that also shows days of week, some modes, and tides. The dial has markings for all those functions, but no minute marks; the result is that 2min 15sec readout is practically indistinguishable from 3min 15sec.
• Oceanus has unique feature of showing tides, but Skyhawk has second alarm and timer.
• Skyhawk has backlight for the LCDs!
• Skyhawk has slide rule (I admit it is techy/geeky feature, but can be very useful for quick conversions and calculations).

The major problem I have with Oceanus is obvious error in the programming of the internal electronics: second counter is cleared and timekeeping stops whenever you enter time setting mode and change anything - home time zone for instance. It means that you have to synchronize via radio after this kind of operation. Apparently Casio realized it, since there is special insert in the manual recommending world time mode for home time zone setting...
Another potential problem is that you cannot set year and month in time setting mode: you have to synchronize with atomic clock.
I have also learned the hard way with Oceanus that advanced functions do require digital display (LCD). With hands-only display the functions like alarm setting take ages to complete:

1. Switch to the alarm mode and wait for ages until hands move to current alarm position.
2. Adjust alarm time (takes time again, especially if the new time is far from the old).
3. Return to time keeping mode - again waiting for ages...

Those problems are even worse due to hour hand being tied to minute hand - they cannot move independently during those setting operation. Since we are here: one more stupid, un-ergonomic decision. While you switch to the world time mode, minute and hour hands first do the walking to the second time zone, and when they are done indicator hand moves to the zone/city marker.
The order should be reverse, so the user can initiate switching to different time zone before hands start their lengthy motion.
Skyhawk has its little problems, too. Minute hand obscures main LCD in positions between 16 and 24, making it virtually useless during that period. I heard that some watches can park hands in neutral position on request...
My conclusion is:

• for travel and work, I'm going to use Skyhawk,
• for more official situations (when the look counts) I'm going to use Oceanus.

Have a good time!

Radio Time

As promised, I'm writing more about the new machine that rests on my wrist: Citizen Skyhawk AT Titanium. Here's how it looks:
It is pretty big, but feels relatively light due to its titanium case and bracelet. If you look closer at the picture, you will notice that the writing on the dial proudly announces that it is Citizen, Eco-Drive, water resistant 200m, and titanium; what is missing is the name of the series and model!
The little dial at the bottom shows the current mode of operation - its hand is controlled by the crown after it is pulled out to the first click position. The three dials at the top show (from left to right) battery level or currently selected radio transmitter, universal time, 24 hour time.
Leftmost LCD shows time zone for which hands are showing current time, rightmost LCD shows different pieces of data in different modes (in the picture: time in second time zone). LCD is equipped with orange backlight, available in time modes after pressing top button.
The watch can synchronize with radio transmitters in Colorado, Germany and Japan. So far I could check the reception of Colorado signal in two areas: Las Vegas, NV and Dayton, OH; in both cases there were no problems. I will be visiting Los Angeles area in June, so there will be one more test point for Colorado reception; it would be nice to visit Florida to do some testing, since that state is located very far from the transmitter. Doing tests in Japan and Europe would be nice, but will probably have to wait for a while.
Continuation of the test in the next post...

The Heat Is Back! Boooo!

Quite unexpectedly, we are hitting 100°F temperatures here in Vegas valley in mid May. As you may know from my previous posts, I don't like it - I'm warmth-loving creature, but I hate heat!

I had a string of business trips recently, and I brought precious trophy from one of them: new bunch of photos taken in Washington, DC! (You can see short selection here.) During all previous trips I was taking pictures, but some important part was always in renovation (especially very lengthy one of Washington Monument); this time I got all my favorite places without scaffolding!

In other areas: I got myself new watch: Citizen Skyhawk AT Titanium. It is not as classy looking as my Oceanus, but its functionality is much better. (That's why I'm not an Apple person - while I appreciate nice looks, I cannot stand their functional shortcomings [and bombastic, lying commercials]. )

Now I have to take some pictures of new Skyhawk and post some review...

Stay cool, my friends!