Here are the crazy lengths Apple goes to in order to keep the Apple Watch accurate
In an interview with The Telegraph, Kevin Lynch, Apple's vice president of technology, detailed just how far Apple is willing to go to get the Watch to within nanoseconds of total accuracy.
Here's what Apple does, according to Lynch:
- The company built its own "Network Time Protocol" (NTP) servers around the world so that no Apple Watch owner is ever very far away, increasing the accuracy of the signals that get sent to the Watch.
- Each Apple Watch uses a temperature controlled crystal oscillator - a device that keeps time - to counteract the natural drift that clocks and watches experience.
- The technology within the Watch also measures the temperature of the crystal, reducing any variations the weather may bring to its accuracy.
- Apple has also used high-speed cameras - filming at over 1,000 frames per second - to film the Watch's screen. The team used this data to see how accurate the Watch is to the millisecond.
Apple's hardware testing process is often complex - as the company loves to show off in promotional videos - and the Apple Watch has been praised on-stage for its ability to be a very good watch.
"When we were designing the Apple Watch, we really focused on accuracy," says Lynch. "If you're in a room on New Year's Eve wearing one, you will be the best reference for when the New Year actually begins."