Internet Time Ticks On At Swatch

Overhype

from the the-esperanto-of-its-time dept

You may remember (though, you’re no worse off if you don’t) that a few years back, Swatch (the watch makers) announced that they were promoting the idea of “Internet Time”, which would divide the day into 1000 “beats”, with the first beat starting at midnight in the timezone of Swatch’s headquarters in Switzerland. The idea was that, instead of having to deal with timezones, and such, we’d all just constantly be on Internet Time – the same time, throughout the world. As you probably have figured out, that didn’t really catch on with too many people. However, it turns out that a few people believed strongly in the concept, and five years after it was announced, the folks at Swatch still suport Internet Time – and are still selling watches with Internet Time (all of which, conveniently, can switch over to regular time with the push of a button). Most of the other early adopters, though, have let that part of their lives move on, with one declaring that, “Internet Time was definitely the Esperanto of time.”