Universal Internet Time
Created | Updated Feb 21, 2005
Universal Internet Time is a method of timekeeping created by the watch and timepiece manufacturer, Swatch, that was created in October 1998.
Universal Internet Time is supposed to represent a completely new concept on time, where time zones1 and geographical borders are irrelevant.
The whole idea of the Internet Time system is to simplify time conversions between internet users in countries on other sides of the planet, so the time in London would be the same as in New York, Tokyo, or even on the International Space Station.
Swatch decided to take things a couple of steps further by actually decimalising time. The standard 24 hour clock is divided into
1000 units known as beats. @000 Internet Time is midnight in Biel Meridian Time (BMT), a meridian set up in Switzerland by Swatch also in October 1998, especially for Internet Time which is equivalent to UTC+1 2. One beat is approximately 1 minute 26 seconds, making it virtually useless for time calculations where accuracy is foremost.
A Simple Conversion Table
Please note, all times are in 24hr format, with the exception of Internet Time, which is in the standard @ format3.
| Internet Time | Beil (BMT) | London (UTC) | New York (ET) |
|---|---|---|---|
| @000 | 00:00:00 | 23:00:00 | 19:00:00 |
| @001 | 00:01:26 | 23:01:26 | 19:01:26 |
| @250 | 06:00:00 | 05:00:00 | 01:00:00 |
| @500 | 12:00:00 | 11:00:00 | 07:00:00 |
Where Universal Internet Time is used
Swatch released a range of digital watches, displaying both the standard 24 hour clock as well as Universal Internet Time. There also exist Internet Time converters for PCs Macintosh and PDAs. Mobile phone manufacturer Ericsson, also released a range of WAP capable mobile phones that also showed Universal Internet Time.
