Swatch SKIN.beat ca. 2001
Display Instructions
Push the crown pusher (less then a second) to toggle between the real time and Internet "beat" time. One beat corresponds to the 1/1000th of a day and thus to 86.4 seconds.
Notes about Internet "beat" time
Noon in Switzerland is @500. The Swatch web site always had a running
clock showing the current internet "beat". Now that clock is gone... The Internet "beat"
is a not very
widely accepted attempt to create a universal internet time by dividing one day
in 1000 units. Bienne (Biel, Switzerland, the Swatch HQ) was selected to be the
time origin (BMT or Biel Mean Time) and noon in Bienne corresponds to @500. Unlike GMT, the
Internet "beat" would then be independent of all locations on the Earth and I
remember from the marketing, that one could e.g. meet online at @600 with no
need to respect local time zones. @600 corresponds to e.g. 14:24 in Amsterdam
and 8:24 AM in New York. Today, the internet "beat" time is barely used anymore.
Most likely because we are too used to our non-decimal representation of time
and with more and more people traveling, more travelers are also capable of
translating times to different time zones by just knowing the time off sets. New
York City is GMT-5, Amsterdam is GMT+1, thus the time difference is 6 hours. And
I think this is the way most people would use today to establish an
international meeting time.
There is a link to a Swatch internet time converter
further down. That link keeps changing. In case it does not work, simply google
"internet beat time converter" and you will find a couple of available online
converters.
As you can see from the side shot the crown is nothing more then a pusher. Be careful, the crown pusher has a relatively weak spring and I suspect that if you press that crown pusher too often and too hard, you will have to write off your SKIN.beat pretty quickly because these watches CANNOT BE REPAIRED!
1. Foreword
I could not find a manual online quickly, thus I decided to create these
online instructions.
A word of warning: The "push crowns" of the SKIN.beat watches are very
fragile. Also your finger tips might start to hurt after having tried to set the
watch for a couple of times. I have noticed, that after the watch entered the
setting mode (you might have to try a couple of times), the "push crown" starts
to work better. It is really a bit "trial and error" here. The most
important things to keep in mind for the setting are:
a) Start the SETTING CYCLE by pushing down the crown pusher
for more then 4 seconds
b) To change a setting quickly (less then a second!) press down the crown
c) To advance to the next digit, press then crown down ca. 1 second. Also, to
finish the setting press the crown pusher down for ca. 1 second.
Please note that you need to set only either the REAL TIME (section 2) or the INTERNET BEAT TIME (section 3). Your SKIN.beat watch will automatically calculate the correct BEAT TIME based on the set REAL TIME. Or if you started with setting the BEAT TIME, then your SKIN.beat will automatically display the correct REAL TIME.
2. Setting the SKIN.beat's Real Time, we set the watch to 15:49 in this example
Make sure your watch displays the real time e.g. 12:03. Press the crown down for more then 4 seconds. Then you should see
24h (blinking)
If you are happy with the 24 hour time format, then you press down the crown for more then a second. If you want to change to the 12 hour time mode (AM/PM), then quickly press the crown down. After you have chosen your hour format please press down the crown for more then a second and your display will show:
12
03
The "1" is blinking and you can advance it by pushing the crown less then a second to 2, 0 etc. (only 0 if you chose AM/PM display mode) by pushing the crown once less then a second.
Push the crown for more then a second and then the second digit of the hour starts blinking
15
03
Push the crown until you got the desired second hour digit. The hours are set now.
Push the crown for more then a second and then the first digit of the minutes starts blinking
15
43
Now set the second minute digit
15
49
Push the crown for more then a second and the watch will return to the DISPLAY MODE and the setting cycle for the real time is finished
Congratulations, you are finished setting the SKIN.beat's real time. Please note that the Internet beat time is set AUTOMATICALLY once you have set the real time of your SKIN.beat watch. Thus, after setting the real time, you will not need to set the internet beat time as explained below.
If for some reason you want to set your SKIN.beat via the
beat time, then please use the instructions below. If your SKIN.beat already
shows the correct REAL TIME, then there is no need to set the internet beat
time. Your Swatch automatically calculates real time and internet beat time.
I simply added this section, because the watch actually allows you to set the
internet beat time.
3. Setting the SKIN.beat's Internet "beat" time. In this example we set the internet time to @409
Open the converter to convert the internet time for example 15:49 Bangkok Time. 15:49 for Bangkok corresponds to @409 beat time. If you are in NYC, then 15:49 real time corresponds to @867. Make sure you enter the right continent and city location into the converter below.
If you started the setting after having replaced the battery, the watch will now most likely display something like @502 because right after the battery exchange, the watch will start with real time 12:00 (noon), push down the crown quickly and it will show @500. Press down the crown for more then 4 seconds and your display should show
@502
The first digit of the internet time is blinking. One quick push will advance it by one. Quick push the crown until the display shows
@402
Remember, our target internet time is @409 corresponding to 15:49 Bangkok time (GMT+7)
Push the crown for more then one second to advance the blinking position to the second digit of the internet time
@402
Nothing to change for us here so we simply
Push the crown for more then one second to advance the blinking position to the third digit of the internet time
@402
Push the crown quickly until the internet time shows
@409
Push the crown for more then one second and you have successfully finished the setting of the INTERNET TIME.
You can quickly press the crown and if the watch returns now to the real time eg. 15:50 then you know all the settings have been completed correctly. Quicky press the crown pusher again, and you should see @409.
