Time and tide wait for no man.
Between 2023 and 2024 I tracked my quartz watch drift in seconds from the NIST atomic clock on a monthly cadence, reflected in the chart above.
The first of the month, I compared the watch time with the NIST atomic clock time available at time.gov. I log the difference, if any, and then reset the watch (if needed) to match the NIST atomic clock.
Between January 2024 and January 2025 I captured the same drift in seconds from the NIST clock, but over the course of the year. The watches were last reset to the NIST clock on January 2024, and then the time drift was recorded January 2025.
Watches may be worn at random intervals. The watches are stored indoors. I acknowledge quartz movements are affected by temperature variance, and note that the environment is not modified in an attempt to stabilize temperature across the board. Watch battery life is unknown, however the watches were "new" as of 2023.
The clear winner here is the Timex Ironman TW5M48900, which lost 4 seconds to the NIST clock over the twelve month period. The runner up was the Timex Expedition TW4B10300, which gained 12 seconds over the year.
It's interesting to see the marked differences in drift among similar models/modules. Variences in materials or manufacturing?