[Boatanchors] SI units and the rest

[Nick England]

Boatanchor content regarding variable seconds

Around 1970 I was working at a Navy test center whose calibration lab
had a Cesium beam (or Rubidium or some such) standard (IIRC part of
some big frequency standard system that also included a WWV receiver -
see, there's the boatanchor content) which drove a stepper motor with
a standard analog clock dial.

The stepper motor or dial mechanism was flaky and every week or so one
of the guys in the cal lab would look at his Timex and reset
it.....and the following morning the chief engineer would walk past
the cal lab, reset his highly expensive Accutron and go away
muttering.....