Super Accurate OCEST Wi-Fi Clock with Sweep Second Hand for Under $40 from Amazon.com

Since 1995 I've had radio controlled "atomic clock" products in my home. Today, I have more than 100 clocks which are capable of receiving radio station WWVB and can set themselves to the correct time, right down to the second. I'm in a good location for WWVB radio reception, only about 350 miles from the transmitter site in Colorado. But I also understand that, for many others, WWVB reception is not strong or may be impossible. Perhaps your location is too far away from Colorado. Perhaps you live and/or work in a building made of concrete, steel or other materials that can hamper radio reception. Or maybe there are other devices in your building that interfere with the WWVB broadcast. So, here's an idea. What about a clock which connects to a local WiFi network and then sets itself to the right time using Internet time servers? Well, that's what this clock does. And, since WiFi isn't susceptible to the same interference as the WWVB broadcast, it can be far more useful.
I found this OCEST WiFi clock on Amazon.com for less than $40. It takes a few minutes to set it up and I was able to do that using my iPhone. But it looks like you could set it up with any smart phone or tablet... or maybe a computer that can connect to WiFi. The setup process involves connecting a smart phone to a local WiFi network created by the clock. Then use your phone to access the clock's setup page. That's where you tell the clock which WiFi network you want it to connect to in your home or office. You also tell the clock the correct password to connect to that network. Next, tell the clock which time zone you're in by selecting a GMT offset. In my case (the Mountain Time Zone in the USA) the offset would be -7 hours when we're on Standard Time and -6 hours when we're on Daylight Time. You can also configure this clock to update itself at specific times of the day or evening. Then, just save those settings and the clock will do the rest. It finds your WiFi network and sets itself.
This clock runs on two AA batteries and, according to the manual, it will go for 10 months before it needs new batteries. That seems a bit short but I'll see what really happens. I mean, it just seems like 12 months would be better.
Almost all of my radio controlled clocks which receive WWVB will automatically make adjustments for Daylight Saving Time changes. From what I can see so far, this clock doesn't do that. So I guess I'll need to go back into the WiFi setup twice a year.

[@soupfork2105]

It looks appropriate on my 18" wrist due to the zero lug width. It wears smaller than it looks. I had it hydro-modded for pearl diving in the Indian Ocean because despite this compact size, it is still legible at depths below 300m. Shame it has no uni-directional bezel though, I often lose track if I hold my breath for more than 27 minutes. Lume is sadly non-existent. I rate it 5/7.

[@stevenwymor1398]

But clearly the hands aren’t properly set. Even when in calibration mode, the hands are not pointing dead on to 12 o’clock. For all the accuracy this is supposed to provide, if the hands aren’t installed properly, it will never be fully properly calibrated. I’m saying this as someone who actually builds mechanical watches. Accurate hand installation is probably the most critical part of watchmaking. This clock seems to fail in that regard. Both minute and hour hand appear to be about 10 seconds and 10 minutes behind respectively. Even the seconds hand is a couple seconds behind the 12 index. They’re calibrated to each other, but not to the clock face.

[@JxH]

In Atlantic Canada, we get WWVB quite reliably overnight. All our Radio Controlled clocks work well. We're in a 'radio quiet' location (no local noise).

[@mikes.4136]

That clock reminds me of the Simplex slave clocks that were wired into every school room, from elementary school through high school. I love the sweep second hand and stylish Arabic numerals.

[@DoofenSpyroDragon16]

Simplex clocks are expensive! I looked em up one day cuz I was bored waiting for some school event, and they’re like $600!

[@ak983625]

Cool clock, WWVB kinda flakey more than a couple states away from Colorado. However, most good quartz clocks are essentially silent, with my ear pressed to the glass, I can barely hear the tick.

[@blackwidowfarms]

very cool! along those lines, I've got a 1952 IBM clock which used to connect to a master clock, probably from an office building. I wrote a script to send 24vdc through a relay once per minute, so it's working again after at least 50 years. Your clock is basically the modern version of this one, thanks for showing it.

[@hanksimon1023]

I'm in the SE part of the country, and I lose electric power a few times a year. Maybe you heard about Helene? My battery clocks connecting to Colorado kept on ticking. But, my Comcast network, and all of my WiFi networks shut down... A Wifi clock does not sound like a reliable solution...

[@Sylvan_dB]

I wonder if it is using (S)NTP and which server...

[@blackbirdpie217]

I don't think WWVB is up to full power yet. They were targeting late September. Their coverage should improve, fingers crossed. You know the old plug in clocks are very very accurate, using a sychronous motor they keep the beat from the power grid.

[@user-ft2md2gd4s]

imagine a solar face that size 🔆

[@rm9sbg93zxjzg]

I like that ticks Greg Sweep is for automatic snobs 😂

[@ak983625]

Personally, I love the preciseness of one second step motor ticks on quartz timepieces.

[@markiangooley]

I’m used to the once-a-second jumps of quartz watches. Even those can be made to advance many times a second to approximate a sweep, as with Bulova Precisionist watches.

[@rtcurtis5858]

Hello. Interesting clock. I only have Casio or GShock Atomic. I have noticed the past year that reception has suffered, probably due to the LF TX antenna damage in CO. Do you know if that has been repaired yet? I have an SDR receiver and an indoor loop ant and get a very nice signal on lf signal, so perhaps there is some rfi to the watches. This clock looks worthwhile as wifi time source seems very accurate on my computers. Thank you!

[@artiem5262]

this looks very good! Targer location is the booth in a theater, and that booth has concrete block walls, within more concrete block walls! No radio reception (including cellular), but we have WiFi galore! Thanks!

[@Ray_of_Light62]

I have 60 KHz clocks, receiving UK time signal, and 77.5 KHz clocks tuned on Germany time station. Two signals are enough - one of them is always available. Problem with Long Wave, during this period of high solar activity, reception is sometime swamped by x-ray burst and Plasma emissions from the Sun. This Wi-Fi is new to me. The receiver must be 2.4 GHz and therefore is immune by solar activity and thunderstorms. It must use the NNTP network time protocol to receive the time from the Internet.

[@pauljosephbuggle3722]

A bit big on the wrist, I'd imagine. 🇮🇪

[@threadripper979]

The hands are sufficiently skewed from the 12 o'clock position to trigger my ADD. Digital for me, thank you.

[@peetiegonzalez1845]

I'd have that apart and reposition the hands myself in no time. That kind of inaccurate setting is not really acceptable for a clock whose very selling point is its accuracy.

[@vincentrobinet2713]

Since it checks the network time once a day it would seem to me that it will change to standard time when your network updates. If that is the case, it would be better to have the clock update at 3am rather than 10pm so that you won't have to wait til the evening of the day the clocks change for your Wi-Fi clock to update.

[@JonathanNelson-nelsonj3]

That... depends. Network Time Protocol sends time in UTC, it is the job of the receiving device to convert that to local time. Since the clock is specifying a UTC offset and not a geographic location I don't see how it can know to adjust for DST. It has to know roughly where you are to adjust correctly. (For example, I live in Texas but I specify my timezone as America/Chicago since we are in the same timezone and observe DST at the same time.)

[@alanb76]

The left button triggers the wifi, the right button resets the hands. Hold the left button until the LED blinks then quickly get to the wifi. You have to get to the web page fast or the wifi shuts back off, so be ready. Network time updates don't include DST information like WWVB transmissions do. So it is more complicated for network time based clocks to do proper DST changeovers and it doesn't look like this clock has any automatic DST features. So change the batteries twice a year when you are resetting the GMT offset settings for DST.

[@BobbyL2k]

Thank you so much for the review. I reversed search the clock module and found that I can buy them for around under 15USD shipped from China. It’s pretty awesome that these modules exist and is relatively cheap. I’ll probably get one of these module and upgrade an existing wall clock.

[@DoofenSpyroDragon16]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="875">14:35</a> same thing occurs with my Hearkent talking clock. It’s always about a second behind, and if it doesn’t get consistent updates from WWVB, it’ll fall about 5 seconds behind, sometimes more. But it’s not that big a deal to me, it’s just interesting. It’s also a sweep. Maybe sweeps are less reliable?

[@RJCichocki]

I would have the clock check time at 3am for standard/daylight savings time.

[@ElderPinto254]

so they gave you two days to learn ?! nice GS sweep!! hang it on the firewall

[@teamhonn]

Thanks Wi-Fi clocks are very handy to have.

[@YamilHarb]

Thank you for the review. looking forward to the follow-up video.

[@caktaylor]

I was almost convinced to try this out until you stated that the batteries expected to last only 10 months. Yikes!

[@ak983625]

My wwvb quartz wall clock goes three years on a single AA.

[@thomasa.243]

Wifi is taking a lot more power than the simple radio tower receiver (which is by design mostly a passive component whereas this clock has to have a sender and receiver).

[@markfellhauer352]

Because AA batteries are so expensive? The WiFi connectivity has some power requirement, so It's not unexpected. I have a few NTP & WWVB analog wall clocks that have provisions for extra batteries for those people who have clocks in places where battery swaps may be difficult. But I prefer to swap out batteries sooner than later in case they start to leak. I also have some clocks that can be powered remotely either with DC or via Power over Ethernet. It's not hard to convert a battery powered clock to a wired power supply in most cases.

[@DoofenSpyroDragon16]

It seems easier to set up than the bulova Wi-Fi one. Plus I like the look.