Yesterday at 2:53pm my trusty digital watch just froze. The indiglo is working and the display is bright (battery fresh), but I can't access any of the functions.

I'm kind of freaked out because the timing (t-minus 12) is well within the "drift" window that has been described as possible for embedded chips. If this drift phenomenon is true, it makes me wonder about all the "planes falling from the sky" and numerous industrial leaks, explosions etc that have happpened lately. Hang on to your hats!

-- Alistair (vancouver@bc.com), December 19, 1999

Answers

Mine is still digitally tracking the passage of what little time remains. My batt's only about a month old. If it fritzes I'll post a note to that effect...

O d d O n e

-- OddOne (mocklamer_1999@yahoo.com), December 19, 1999.

I never considered that a digital watch might freeze at rollover, but dates are everywhere.

Look at the bright side...that terrorist caught with the Nitroglycerine and the Casio watch equipped circuit boards might have failed in his mission (whatever it was) Because of Y2K!

-- K. Stevens (kstevens@ It's ALL going away in less than two weeks.com), December 19, 1999.

The same exact thing happened to my Ironman watch about 7 months ago. I didn't see how it could be the battery since the display and light still worked. I just tossed it in my desk drawer and got another watch. A few months later I happened to look at it again and it was functioning, albeit with the wrong time. I corrected it and it has since worked normally.

So, don't throw it away or let it add to your Y2K worries. It probably isn't related and might work again for you if you're patient.

-- Gus (y2kk@usa.net), December 19, 1999.

O.K. You got me. I am now a doomer.

-- for real (for@real.com), December 19, 1999.

Alistair,

Your watch quit yesterday, and you fear Y2K ? Um, isn't it kinda early my friend ? How many time zones away from CDT are you ? Not trying to be sarcastic but I can't imagine how you can possibly link that to Y2K. I sometimes think I am irrational but this post kinda makes me feel better. All in fun (but really curious).

-- Rob (maxovrdrv51@hotmail.com), December 19, 1999.

Two things to hopefully set your mind at ease.

1) I'm the guy who posted the "drift" material. If your watch was showing the correct date/time, it wasn't drifting, end of story. (The way you *detect* if a clock has drifted is by checking the date and time! If it's drifted, it'll be... drifted!)

2) My indiglo type watch came with a notice that the batteries in it were some kind of special "test" type that would die shortly after purchase, and that I should immediately replace them. This was two or three years ago, and they're still going strong. Nice try, fellas. Anyway, as I recall, one battery was for the watch, and the other was for the illumination panel. So, it's possible that you have one dead battery (for the clock), and one live battery (for the light).

-- Ron Schwarz (rs@clubvb.com.delete.this), December 19, 1999.

Don't fret. I have a Sharp ZQ-4500 Electronic Organizer. I have used it infrequently. It is about 16 months old. It was working fine. On December 14, 1999 it died. I replaced ALL the batteries and nothing. Checked it again today and nothing.... Coincidence??

neilw

-- (neil52@hotmail.com), December 20, 1999.