science

Swiss railway clock

Swiss railway clock is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Swiss railway clock rather than just read about it. In short: The Swiss railway clock was designed in 1944 by Hans Hilfiker, a Swiss engineer and Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) employee, together with Moser-Baer, a Swiss clock manufacturer, for use by the SBB as a station clock. In 1953, Hilfiker added a red second hand in the shape of the baton used by train dispatch staff, giving the clock its current appearance.

Key takeaways

Swiss railway clock belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Swiss railway clock to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Swiss railway clock from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Swiss railway clock was designed in 1944 by Hans Hilfiker, a Swiss engineer and Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) employee, together with Moser-Baer, a Swiss clock manufacturer, for use by the SBB as a station clock. In 1953, Hilfiker added a red second hand in the shape of the baton used by train dispatch staff, giving the clock its current appearance.

Technology

The clock owes its technology to the particular requirements of operating a railway. First, railway timetables do not list seconds; trains in Switzerland always leave the station on the full minute. Secondly, all the clocks at a railway station have to run synchronously in order to show reliable time for both passengers and railway personnel anywhere on or around the station. The station clocks in Switzerland are synchronised by receiving an electrical impulse from a central master clock at each full minute, advancing the minute hand by one minute. The second hand is driven by an electrical motor independent of the master clock. It takes only about 58.5 seconds to circle the face; then the hand pauses briefly at the top of the clock. It starts a new rotation as soon as it receives the next minute impulse from the master clock. This movement is emulated in some of the licensed timepieces made by Mondaine.

Cultural impact Since the introduction of the distinctive red second hand in 1953, the clock has become a Swiss national icon. It is included among examples of 20th-century design by both the Design Museum in London and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The clock face design has been used in a line of Mondaine watches since 1986. The clock face design is also licensed for use on certain Apple devices, such as iPads and iPhones. Apple initially used the clock design without permission in iOS 6. Although the exact details of the licensing agreement are confidential, it was reported that Apple ultimately paid Swiss national rail operator SBB about CHF 20M (about US$22.4M as of January 2014) to license the use of the clock design. Apple later removed the design from its operating system with iOS 7.

Adoptions by other railways

In August 2020, Ñuñoa Station in the Santiago Metro had a Swiss railway clock installed on it. The British Section of the Kowloon–Canton Railway (renamed the KCR East Rail in the late 1990s) in Kowloon and the New Territories, Hong Kong has used the Swiss railway clock since the 1980s on platforms and concourses with its logo on the clock. The same clock was also installed in stations along the KCR West Rail and the KCR Ma On Shan Rail opened in 2003 and 2004 respectively. With their operation leased as a service concession by its owner and then operator Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation to the MTR Corporation Limited in 2008, the logo was covered by the new operator. As of September 2022, the new operator has been found retiring station clocks and discarding them as scrap metal.

References

External links

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Swiss railway clock

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Swiss railway clock claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Swiss railway clock before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Swiss railway clock ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Swiss railway clock

In research: Swiss railway clock appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Swiss railway clock in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Swiss railway clock is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1944 establishments in Switzerland, 1944 introductions, Clocks in Switzerland, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Swiss railway clock outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Swiss railway clock in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Swiss railway clock means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Swiss railway clock out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Swiss railway clock in simple terms?

Why does Swiss railway clock matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Swiss railway clock?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Swiss railway clock.