Operating Instructions for Tide Clocks

General Tidal Information

The action of the tide is very complex and involved. Many factors must be considered when describing the tide at any given place or time.The calculations necessary for compiling the official tide tables are usually done by computers.

The tide clock does not claim to give the exact time of each of the tides at any given place, but it will give you the average value of the tide, which is all you will need to tell you when you can go boating, fishing, surfing etc.

The primary controller of the tides is the moon. The average duration between two transits of the moon around the earth is 24 hours 50 minutes and 30 seconds. This is referred to as the “Lunar” or the “Tidal” day.
The tidal day – to which the tide-indicating hand of your clock is geared – is 50 minutes longer than the solar day.
Your tide clock movement has four hands, indicating the average tide times at a given point as well as the hour, minute and seconds during the day.

Operating Instructions

Fitting battery

Please insert a new AA battery, ensuring it is inserted with the correct polarity to the terminals to avoid damage to the quartz crystal.

Setting of hands

a) At the back of the movement you will find the hand adjustment knob. This is for the time adjustment only.

b) The tide hand is adjusted by rotating the white plastic wheel at the back, below the movement. The correct position can be found by using a chart of local tides in your area. A general rule is: the best time to set the tide position is at high tide during a new or full moon.

Time regulation

Your clock is set at factory for a deviation of accuracy of approximately 1 minute per year at a room temperature of 20 degrees Celsius + or – 3 degrees. Please note that high temperature changes will also affect the accuracy.

General World Information

The west coast of Europe and Africa, also the east coasts of Australia, North and South America follow the ‘semi-diurnal’ pattern of two high and two low tides a day. Other coasts around the world (e.g. the west coasts of Australia, North and South America) are not ‘semi-diurnal” and the tide-indicating part of your clock will not function in these areas.

Please remember that any alteration of the normal time hands may affect the position of the tide hand. Therefore, after any major alteration of the setting of the time hands, the tide hand position should be checked and corrected.