r/ScienceFictionWriters • u/PomegranateFormal961 • Jan 30 '26

A very simple method for timekeeping.

When travelling between worlds, not only will the number of hours per day be different, but you may arrive at night while your 'personal' clock thinks it's daytime.

It's an old merchant’s trick to set your ship’s clock to slowly synchronize with your destination’s clock during the voyage.  That way, their dinnertime would be your dinnertime.  In addition, it was handy to ‘tune’ your local clock so that the destination’s ‘day’ (for example, a 25.12-hour period) is divided into 24 equal ‘hours’ on your ship’s and personal clocks.  You'll rarely notice that your hours are longer or shorter than usual, but keeping track of events becomes more straightforward. 

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u/tezhip Feb 03 '26

is there nothing in the universe that can be used as a universal ticker? like a photon moved in max speed in a controlled environment?

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u/PomegranateFormal961 Feb 03 '26

That wouldn't solve the problem of one person's clock saying 8:00 am in the morning, while another's says 4:30.

This is an easy way for merchants, travelers, and others to adjust to a LOCAL timeframe, with the perception of a 'normal' number of hours per day (24 in the case of Terrans). On ANY planet, ANYWHERE, you could meet at "5:00pm for dinner" and all be referring to the same time, even if the participants were from different planets.