View source for Swatch Internet Time

{{short description|Alternate time system by watch maker Swatch}}
[[File:Swatch beat Logo.svg|thumb|Swatch .beat time logo]]
{| class="wikitable floatright"
|+ Time{{efn|at page generation }} {{purge|(update to view correct time)}}
|-
! 24-hour time (UTC)
|-
| style="text-align: center" | {{nobreak|{{#time:H}}:{{#time:i}}}}
|-
!Date (UTC)
|-
| style="text-align: center" | {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}}
|-
! .beat time (BMT)
|-
| style="text-align: center" | {{nobreak|@{{#expr: floor( {{#expr:{{#expr:{{#expr:{{#time:H|now + 1 hour}}*3600}}+{{#expr:{{#time:i}}*60}}+{{#time:s}}}}/86.4}} )}}}}
|}
'''Swatch Internet Time''' (or '''{{Proper name|.beat time}}''') is a [[decimal time]] system introduced in 1998 by the [[Swatch]] corporation as part of the marketing campaign for their line of ".beat" watches. Those without a watch could use the Internet to view the current time on the watchmaker's website, but now a [https://beats.wiki/ dedicated wiki] serves the purpose.<ref>{{Cite web |title=.Beat Swatch® Internet Time Wiki |url=https://beats.wiki/ |website=beats.wiki}}</ref> The concept of .beat time is similar to ''decimal minutes'' in [[French Revolutionary calendar|French Revolutionary decimal time]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.swatch.com/en-us/internet-time.html | title=INTERNET TIME | website=www.swatch.com}}</ref>

Instead of hours and minutes, in Swatch Time the [[mean solar day]] is divided into 1,000 equal parts called ''{{Proper name|.beat}}''s, meaning each {{Proper name|.beat}} lasts {{Convert|86.4|seconds|minutes|abbr=off}} in standard time, and an hour lasts for approximately 42 .beats. The time of day always references the amount of time that has passed since [[midnight]] (standard time) in [[Biel, Switzerland]], where Swatch's headquarters is located. For example, @248 BEATS indicates a time 248&nbsp;{{Proper name|.beats}} after midnight, or {{frac|248|1000}} of a day (just over 5&nbsp;hours and 57&nbsp;minutes; or 5:57 AM [[UTC+1]]).

There are no [[Time zone|time zones]] in Swatch Internet Time; it is a globally unified timekeeping system based on what Swatch calls "Biel Mean Time" (BMT), the time zone conventionally known as [[Central European Time]] or [[West Africa Time]]. Note that it is based on the time zone and not the actual [[mean solar time]] measured in Biel. Also, unlike [[civil time]] in Switzerland and many other countries, Swatch Internet Time has never observed [[daylight saving time]] (DST), even prior to more recent decisions to abandon DST in certain locales.<ref>As of 2024, several jurisdictions including [[Alberta]] have abandoned Daylight Savings Time in favor of a static time zone for [[agriculture]]-related reasons.</ref>

==History==
Swatch Internet Time was announced on 23&nbsp;October 1998, in a ceremony at the Junior Summit '98,<ref name="mit-news-1998">{{cite web |last1=Wright |first1=Sarah H. |title=Kids from around the world Swatch and listen at summit |url=https://news.mit.edu/1998/summit-1118 |website=MIT News |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |access-date=10 July 2022 |date=18 November 1998}}</ref> attended by [[Nicolas Hayek|Nicolas G. Hayek]], president and CEO of the Swatch Group, G.N. Hayek, president of Swatch Ltd., and [[Nicholas Negroponte]], founder and then director of the [[MIT Media Lab]]. During the summit, Swatch Internet Time became the official time system for [[Nation.1]], an online country (supposedly) created and run by children.

===Uses===
[[File:SwatchBeat1.jpg|thumb|A Swatch watch showing {{Proper name|.beat}} time in the bottom part of the display]]
During 1999, Swatch produced several models of watch, branded "Swatch {{Proper name|.beat}}",  that displayed Swatch Internet Time as well as standard time, and even convinced a few websites (such as [[CNN.com]]) to use the new format.<ref>{{cite web
| title=TLDR #15 - Internet Time
| work = [[On the Media]]
| url=https://www.wnyc.org/story/tldr-15-internet-time/
| date=2014-02-17
| access-date = 2018-09-18}}</ref> [[PHP]]'s date() function has a format specifier, 'B', which returns the Swatch Internet Time notation for a given time stamp.<ref>{{cite web
| title=PHP: date — Format a local time/date
| url=https://secure.php.net/manual/en/function.date.php
| work=[[PHP]] Manual
| access-date = 2018-09-18}}</ref>  It was also used as a time reference on [[ICQ]], and the online [[role-playing game]] ''[[Phantasy Star Online]]'' used it since its launch on the [[Dreamcast]] in 2000 to try to facilitate cross-continent gaming (as the game allowed Japanese, American and European players to mingle on the same servers). In March 2001, [[Ericsson]] released the T20e, a [[mobile phone]] which gave the user the option of displaying Internet Time. Outside these areas, it is infrequently used. While Swatch still offers the concept on its website, it no longer markets Beat watches.{{Citation needed |date=July 2015}} In July 2016, Swatch released Touch Zero Two, its second wirelessly connected watch, with Swatch Internet Time function.

===Beatnik satellite controversy===
{{See also|Sputnik 99}}

In early 1999, Swatch began a marketing campaign about the launch of their [[Sputnik 99|Beatnik satellite]], intended to service a set of Internet Time watches. They were criticized for planning to use an [[amateur radio]] frequency for broadcasting a commercial message (an act banned by international treaties). The satellite was intended to be deployed by hand from the ''[[Mir]]'' space station. Swatch instead donated the transmitter batteries for use in normal ''Mir'' functions, and the satellite never broadcast.<ref>{{cite news
| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/320560.stm
| title=Hams jam space spam
| date=1999-04-16
| work=[[BBC News]]
| access-date=2018-09-18}}</ref>

==Description==
{{See also|Abolition of time zones}}

The concept was touted as an alternative, decimal measure of time. One of the supposed goals was to simplify the way people in different [[time zone]]s communicate about time, mostly by eliminating time zones altogether. It also does away with the division of the day into 12 or 24 parts (hours), then 60 parts (minutes), then 60 parts (seconds), then 1000 parts (milliseconds). Furthermore, there is no confusion between the [[12 hour time|AM/PM system]] and [[24-hour time]].

===Beats===
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders floatright"
|+{{Proper name|.beats}} per unit of time
!scope="col"| Unit
!scope="col"| Beats conversion
|-
!scope="row"| 1 day
| 1,000 {{Proper name|.beats}}
|-
!scope="row"| 1 hour
| 41.6 {{Proper name|.beats}}
|-
!scope="row"| 1 min 26.4 s
| 1 {{Proper name|.beat}}
|-
!scope="row"| 1 min
| 0.694 {{Proper name|.beats}}
|-
!scope="row"| 1 s
| 0.011574 {{Proper name|.beats}}
|}

Instead of hours and minutes, the [[solar day|mean solar day]] is divided into 1,000 parts called ''{{Proper name|.beats}}''. Each {{Proper name|.beat}} lasts 1&nbsp;minute and 26.4&nbsp;seconds. One {{Proper name|.beat}} is equal to one decimal minute in [[Decimal time#France|French decimal time]].

Although Swatch does not specify units smaller than one {{Proper name|.beat}}, [[Third-party developer|third party]] implementations have extended the standard by adding "centibeats" or "sub-beats", for extended precision: @248.00. Each "centibeat" is a hundredth of a {{Proper name|.beat}} and is therefore equal to one [[Decimal time#France|French decimal second]] (0.864&nbsp;seconds).<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://wiki.budts.be/internettime
| title = Nucleus Plugin: NP_InternetTime
| work = TeRanEX Wiki
| date = 2005-11-23
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070807061223/http://wiki.budts.be/internettime
| archive-date = 2007-08-07
| url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.artefakt.com/projects/ibeat/
| title = iBeat
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081224143907/http://www.artefakt.com/projects/ibeat/
| archive-date = 2008-12-24
| url-status = dead}}</ref>

===Time zones===
There are no time zones; instead, the new time scale of Biel Mean Time (BMT) is used, based on the company's headquarters in [[Biel/Bienne|Biel, Switzerland]]. Despite the name, BMT does not refer to mean [[solar time]] at the Biel [[meridian (geography)|meridian]] (7°15′E), but to the standard time there. It is equivalent to [[Central European Time]] and [[West Africa Time]], or [[UTC]]+1.

Like UTC, Swatch Internet Time is the same throughout the world. For example, when the time is 875&nbsp;{{Proper name|.beats}}, or @875, in New York, it is also @875 in Tokyo. Unlike civil time in most European countries, Internet Time does not observe [[daylight saving time]], and thus it matches Central European Time during (European) winter and [[Western European Summer Time]], which is observed by the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal and Spain's [[Canary Islands]] during summer.

===Notation===
The most distinctive aspect of Swatch Internet Time is its notation; as an example, "@248" would indicate a time 248&nbsp;{{Proper name|.beats}} after midnight, equivalent to a fractional day of 0.248&nbsp;CET, or 04:57:07.2&nbsp;UTC. No explicit format was provided for dates, although the Swatch website formerly displayed the Gregorian calendar date in the order [[Calendar date#Gregorian, day%E2%80%93month%E2%80%93year (DMY)|day-month-year]], separated by periods and prefixed by the letter ''d'' (e.g. d31.01.99).{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

===Calculation from UTC+1===
The formula for calculating the time in {{Proper name|.beats}} from UTC+1 is:

<math display=block>\left\lfloor\frac{3600h+60m+s}{86.4}\right\rfloor,</math>
<!--Note. The UTC seconds have been removed, because they'd be already rounded afterwards -->

Where ''h'' is UTC+1 hours and ''m'' is UTC+1 minutes. The result is rounded down.<ref>{{cite web
| title=How do I get the current time in Swatch Internet Time in Java?
| url=https://stackoverflow.com/a/22693795
| author=Jop V.
| date=2014-03-27
| publisher=[[StackOverflow]]
| access-date=2018-09-18}}</ref>

== When does the day begin? ==
Example cities across the globe @000 BEATS midnight:
{| class="wikitable"
|+@000 BEATS
!City
!Time
!Time zone
!UTC offset
|-
|San Francisco
|<code>03:00 PM</code>
|PST
|UTC-8
|-
|New York
|<code>06:00 PM</code>
|EST
|UTC-5
|-
|London
|<code>11:00 PM</code>
|BST
|UTC
|-
|Biel
|<code>12:00 midnight</code>
|CET
|UTC+1
|-
|Tokyo
|<code>08:00 AM</code>
|JST
|UTC+9
|-
|Sydney
|<code>09:00 AM</code>
|AEST
|UTC+10
|}

==See also==
* [[Traditional Chinese timekeeping#One-hundredth of a day: Kè|Traditional Chinese timekeeping]] – 1&nbsp;{{transl|zh|kè}} = 10 'beats'
* [[Metric time]]
* [[New Earth Time]]
* [[Unix time]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{official website}}
* [https://www.timeanddate.com/time/internettime.html A short description of Internet time]
* [https://beats.knowuh.com/ Swatch Internet Time]

[[Category:Time measurement systems]]
[[Category:Internet properties established in 1998]]
[[Category:Units of time]]
[[Category:Decimal time]]
[[Category:Swiss inventions]]
[[Category:1998 in Switzerland]]