Five Minutes Fast

[Maydup]

I grew up in a home where the kitchen clock was always five minutes fast and to some extent I have continued the practise myself.

The car clock is always 4 minutes fast and the bedside alarm is five minutes fast, but for the sanity of my OH the clock he looks at is always correct!

Who else keeps a few minutes up their sleeve for when they need them?

[Ken4155]

My alarm clock is always 20 minutes fast. So, if i wake before it goes off, then i've obviously had enough sleep and i get up. But if the alarm actually wakes me, i press the sleep button a few times until i 'come to'. Might not make sense to most, but it works for me. :-)

[ichkeria]

There’s a great piece in the Times this weekend satirising this practice.
If you know your clock is five minutes fast or whatever then how does it help (!)

[ichkeria]

The alarm clock thing is slightly different...

[Maydup]

I read that piece in The Times and it made me wonder just how many other people do the same as me. The alarm clock example is no different really as Ken could set his alarm 20 minutes earlier, but just like me, he prefers it this way.

[emmie]

all my clocks and watches of which their armfuls are different times, i don't bother anymore on getting the correct time, it would simply take too long.

[Maydup]

With all of our technology now, we can always find the right time if we need it cant we? In the meantime, I like it to be flexible!

[Zacs-Master]

Drives me insane when clocks aren’t at the right time (and I know they’re not) .

[Buenchico]

My watch is always right to the second. (If I notice that it's one second out, I'll adjust it straight away. It would drive me totally potty if I left it displaying the incorrect time).

EXCEPT that I've been known to leave it set to GMT (but still right to within a second) throughout the summer months, rather than changing it to BST!

I try to keep my clocks similarly accurate. The clock beside me as I'm typing self-adjusts anyway. With an accuracy of better than one second's error in every ten million years, it's probably just about good enough for me ;-)

[HansUrbancka]

It has been said that having clocks set ahead of actual time is idiosyncratic. A Royal failing perhaps:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandringham_time

Hans.

[andy-hughes]

I'm with Buenchico on this, I hate inaccurate clocks, I keep any clock I have control over correct to the minute where possible.

[aelmpvw]

//With an accuracy of better than one second's error in every ten million years//
we'll never know if it's true will we?

[Maydup]

I have a clock that self adjusts, and an iphone and TV that keep themselves accurate of course. I just like to adjust the ones I can to be ahead of the game! I can tell that its not a common a habit around here.

[Jackdaw33]

It does seem rather bizarre but my father always set the clocks 20 minutes fast.

[cashier]

Alarm clock fifteen minutes fast and watch five minutes fast.

[Patsy33]

My watch is right time.
Kitchen clock 10 minutes fast, living room clock 20 minutes fast!

[pixie374]

Like Chris... I like mine as accurate as possible. I sometimes set alarms early, so I can "snooze" them 15 times. But if I set the clocks early, I would know and take that into account :-)

[Tilly2]

I thought this was some new diet technique, a bit shorter than the two/five fast. :-(

[Maydup]

Ah ha, at last some others who set their clocks fast.

Makes perfect sense doesnt it?!

[sanmac]

I have seven antique mechanical clocks and some of them strike and chime while some just strike. They are all set about four minutes apart so that they all don't sound at the same time.

[ichkeria]

Setting your alarm clock early is different, although why not just set it 20 minutes early rather than resetting the clock forward :-)
If you put your clock forward you know it’s fast so you are likely to adjust accordingly.
I know if it was me I’d simply be thinking: “I have an extra x minutes” :-)
You aren’t giving yourself any extra time. The five minutes you gain for an appointment is five minutes you’ve also lost when you could have been doing something else :-)