[kqr]

> it has only drifted off 21 seconds in that time

Quartz watches are really magic in terms of keeping time. We take it for granted, but it's insane how accurate they are.

Watch accuracy was a big deal before quartz-based watches, because it was really hard to construct watches that kept time with the accuracy required for celestial navigation etc. Sufficiently accurate watches are a whole separate category, called chronometer. There are certification institutes that put watches through internationally standardised thorough testing to check whether the watch truly conforms to the chronometer label.

Even the cheapest quartz watch will pass the chronometer tests with ample margins. It's not even a fair fight.