I was putting the wall clock back an hour in our office this afternoon when something occurred to me. The clock is actually mine, and I’ve had it since I was a kid (a souvenir from a London Underground ticket office – Thanks Dad). I can’t remember the exact date I got it, but I know I was still at school and it’s safe to say I’ve had it since at least 1st January 1990. There’s an average of 31,535,000 seconds in one year, and it has been 429 months since January 1990, therefore taking in to account maybe a weeks worth where I needed to replace the battery, the second hand on my clock has moved a staggering 1,127,412,000 times, and has made a complete rotation around the clock 18,790,200 times
But lets go deeper than that. The gap between each second on the clock face is 11 millimeters
11mm x 1,127,412,000 = 12,401,532,000mm which equates to 12401km (7705 miles) or the equivalent of 270 London Marathons.
In fact, since January 1990, the tip of that little second hand has travelled almost the distance from Evesham to Hawaii, falling short by just 200 miles.
And those figures don’t even include the time it was ticking away on the London Underground.
It’s safe to say our office clock is without a doubt the most reliable clock I’ve ever had.
