Options for automatically syncing watches in India

R

roadrash99

Disciple
I'm looking for a watch that is going to tell accurate time and requires zero maintenance for years. I've found it actually, it's the GPS-Solar Seiko Astron but it's too expensive (1 lakh plus). I found that Radio sync watches are cheaper than GPS sync, and there are radio sync G-Shocks for sub $100 which is honestly perfect. But these rely on a radio time signal that unfortunately does not exist in India (though looks like it might happen in future). This seems to be the all there is to it, but I'm posting here just in case you guys know something else I don't, or a workaround to get this sort of thing in India.
 
No there isn't and it's a pity. A real no brainer. Why don't we have such a facility!!!

That article is from 2018. I haven't heard anything new when I was looking at the feasibility of this option with Casio watches a few years back. That's how I learnt of this option.

Radio sync is very effective at syncing clocks especially long wave will have no trouble getting through walls.

Just not available in India (yet) :bored:
 
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I found a couple more options, though they are not exactly the same but they are something. One is Casio's bluetooth watches. I don't like they are dependent on your phone and there is a certain elegance about a watch that tells the time on its own, but I guess functionally the end result is essentially the same as the GPS/Radio sync.

www.casio.com

EQB-1100D-1A | EDIFICE Smartphone Link Model | CASIO INDIA

Smartphone Link | Super Slim High Spec Chronograph | Solar powered | Despite being a high-spec multi-hand chronograph with a smartphone link via Bluetooth® and being equipped with Tough Solar, which charges even in low light, this model achieves both high functionality and wearability via a thin...
www.casio.com www.casio.com

And the other is a bit of a hack which is creating your own mini radio signal transmitter. Not sure how well this works, gonna take a look at it later as there are so many more options with radio sync.

hackaday.com

Build Your Own Radio Clock Transmitter

Deep in the Colorado foothills, there are two radio transmitters that control the time on millions of clocks all across North America. It’s WWVB, the NIST time signal radio station that sends…
hackaday.com hackaday.com

I really like that Casio though so I'm tempted to pull the trigger on that one. There also seem to be a bunch of nice Bluetooth G-Shocks at 10-12k
 
Why not use BT people will say, ignorant that the old school radio option is more battery efficient and requires zero equipment on your side....

Casio's g-shocks don't lose much, you could just do it manually twice a year or even annually if you want. I haven't adjusted the time on mine in over four years and it's not more than a few seconds off from what the phone says
 
roadrash99 said:
I'm looking for a watch that is going to tell accurate time and requires zero maintenance for years. I've found it actually, it's the GPS-Solar Seiko Astron but it's too expensive (1 lakh plus). I found that Radio sync watches are cheaper than GPS sync, and there are radio sync G-Shocks for sub $100 which is honestly perfect. But these rely on a radio time signal that unfortunately does not exist in India (though looks like it might happen in future). This seems to be the all there is to it, but I'm posting here just in case you guys know something else I don't, or a workaround to get this sort of thing in India.
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https://www.reddit.com/r/gshock/comments/vt4f8g
have you looked into this?
 
roadrash99 said:
Wow I didn't even know it was technically possible to do something like this. It's easier than that DIY transmitter if it works. So both bluetooth and radio ones are options for me. Still I would prefer bluetooth from the two as the radio sync will still be a manual process through this app.
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Might as well get a smartwatch then XD.
 
Nyan said:
Might as well get a smartwatch then XD.
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Yeah lol. I want a watch that you don't have to charge, don't have to change batteries, don't have to sync, for at least 10 years. Already sold my smartwatch. I'm probably putting too much emphasis on the sync part, I know it will have to be done a handful of times, but there is something right about a watch that always tells the right time. I think such a product should exist.
 
roadrash99 said:
I want a watch that you don't have to charge, don't have to change batteries, don't have to sync, for at least 10 years. Already sold my smartwatch.
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Main reason I got a gshock when everyone was looking at smartwatches
roadrash99 said:
I'm probably putting too much emphasis on the sync part, I know it will have to be done a handful of times, but there is something right about a watch that always tells the right time. I think such a product should exist.
Click to expand...
I wanted a watch that keeps time and not necessarily the right time. Also the UI has to be right. The watch I ended up with after looking at many models satisfies those requirements but does not come with this sync feature. I'm glad I didn't get hung up on this sync feature
 
Well as you already know you can't have sync unless India has one atomic server or whatever it's called. Closest to us is Japan's. But data from it can't be fetched from India. The protrek I bought in 2014 had atomic sync feature, but no Indian server, so no sync. The protrek released just few weeks ago, 10 years later, having the same feature, well, still the same. I'll check back in 5 years maybe and see whether any porageress has been made in this aspect.
 
sauravghosh said:
Well as you already know you can't have sync unless India has one atomic server or whatever it's called. Closest to us is Japan's. But data from it can't be fetched from India. The protrek I bought in 2014 had atomic sync feature, but no Indian server, so no sync. The protrek released just few weeks ago, 10 years later, having the same feature, well, still the same. I'll check back in 5 years maybe and see whether any porageress has been made in this aspect.
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How many battery changes, services did you have to carry out over the 10 years? And how frequently did you have to sync it.
 
blr_p said:
Why don't you try the app with it then?
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Tried. Worked. Lol. 10 years in. First time the watch successfully synced! No more that annoying ERR msg. Although it synced with my phone only, but still. Took about 3 mins.
Now the problem is, my phone's clock (Jio) is a second behind atomic, and I can't see a way to sync it. I remember using clocksync app back in the days, but then again i was always rooted. Any way to sync Android clock with atomic servers without root?
roadrash99 said:
How many battery changes, services did you have to carry out over the 10 years? And how frequently did you have to sync it.
Click to expand...
Battery changes and services both 0.
Sync it? I could never sync it being in India. Tried many times. Even got up on the floor of a 62 storey building like a doofus. My watch runs about 7-8 seconds slow a month. So I used to manually adjust it once a month.
 
sauravghosh said:
Now the problem is, my phone's clock (Jio) is a second behind atomic, and I can't see a way to sync it. I remember using clocksync app back in the days, but then again i was always rooted. Any way to sync Android clock with atomic servers without root?
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I'm not sure if you're asking exactly this, I did change the timeserver on my android once just playing around. You'll need ADB for that and this would change the phone's NTP server so keep that in mind if you expected a different outcome.

I don't know if time.nplindia.org is the atomic domain but you can find that easily as you do know a lot more about the same than me.

Bash: 
$ adb shell settings put global ntp_server time.nplindia.org

# test
$ adb shell settings get global ntp_server
> time.nplindia.org
 
idkmuch01 said:
I'm not sure if you're asking exactly this, I did change the timeserver on my android once just playing around. You'll need ADB for that and this would change the phone's NTP server so keep that in mind if you expected a different outcome.

I don't know if time.nplindia.org is the atomic domain but you can find that easily as you do know a lot more about the same than me.

Bash: 
$ adb shell settings put global ntp_server time.nplindia.org

# test
$ adb shell settings get global ntp_server
> time.nplindia.org
Click to expand...
Will try this thanks. Do you have to disable network provided time option in settings for this to take effect?
 
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