Telling Time in the Star Trek Universe

[Brannigan]

Hello All,
Its been sometime since I've posted here but I had a question concerning clocks/timepieces in Star Trek.
In the Star Trek universe Clocks seem to be largely missing. The only instance I can think of where we saw any kind of chronometer was in Star Trek VI around the viewscreen of the Ent-A. A blooper from TNG revealed that Gates McFadden was wearing a watch during a scene in Code of Honor so this doesn't technically count.
So how do people know what time it is? It would make sense that crew members would still need to wear some kind of watch so that they would know when to go on duty or just in general. Further I would think several spaces of the a ship would need a clock (bridge, engineering, rec rooms, etc) for record keeping purposes, yet we never see any clocks outside of the aforementioned cases. I realize a stardate is supposed to take care of an entire timeframe and I have always felt it is similar to UTC or Greenwich Meantime: A stardate in one quadrant of the Federation will always be the same as a stardate in another quadrant. Does a stardate always record the hours, minutes, seconds as well, and if so is this how people know what time it is?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Does anybody really know what time it is?

Does anybody really care?

 

[MacLeod]

Well whilst on a ship you could simply ask the computer.

And I think we saw a clock in the TOS-R episode "The Naked Now"

 

[STEPhon IT]

"The Naked Time"
The consoles may have them as well. Seemed to appear when needed in "Tomorrow is Yesterday."

 

[MacLeod]

My bad.

 

[Kor]

Everybody is a transhuman with a chip implanted in their head that lets them know what time it is.

And there have been plenty of times when the time was mentioned in dialog without referencing the stardate, always in 24-hour military time.

Kor

 

[Greg Cox]

You know I actually struggle with this in the books sometimes. The landing party is stranded on a planet, they separate and agree to rendezvous in exactly fifteen minutes, or maybe the entire planet is going to explode in the 30.5 minutes. How do keep track of time without watches?

I mean, sure, Spock can probably maintain an accurate countdown in his head, but what about us mere humans?

And how come nobody ever seems to worry about time zones when visiting alien worlds? Just once I want to see Kirk order Uhura to contact the Rymarian high chancellor only to be reminded that "Um, sir, it's noon our time, but it's two in the morning in the Rymarian capitol . . . ."

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

Potentially any gadget should be ablte to tell time. Communicators, tricorders of course, any computer interface and viewscreen, verbal information from the ship computer and Data.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Yeah, there's GOT to be some sort of timekeeping device in communicators and tricorders. I mean, if my iPhone has a clock...

 

[Greg Cox]

Yeah, there's GOT to be some sort of timekeeping device in communicators and tricorders. I mean, if my iPhone has a clock...

The average iPhone has infinitely more functions than a TOS communicator.

 

[Kor]

But my smartphone can't communicate through subspace with a ship up in space.

Kor

 

[Overgeeked]

But my smartphone can't communicate through subspace with a ship up in space.

Kor

No, but the signal it speak over is bounced from your phone to a cell tower, which relays that signal to a satellite in space, which then relays that signal to another cell tower, which in turn relays that to some other phone on the far side of the planet. Trek calls it subspace communication, we call it "an ordinary phone call."

 

[Kor]

Communicators work without cell towers and satellites.

Kor

 

[JonnyQuest037]

But my smartphone can't communicate through subspace with a ship up in space.

This.

 

[HIjol]

Pretty sure there is an App coming out for that.

 

[The Wormhole]

Kirk wore a watch in TWOK. That is, intentionally, not a production mistake like Dr. Crusher's watch. In the Genesis cave, Kirk even checks the time.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Kirk wore a watch in TWOK. That is, intentionally, not a production mistake like Dr. Crusher's watch. In the Genesis cave, Kirk even checks the time.

SPOCK (on intercom): Admiral, if we go by the book, like Lieutenant Saavik, hours could seem like days.
KIRK: I read you, Captain. Let's have it.
SPOCK (on intercom): The situation is grave, Admiral. We won't have main power for six days. Auxiliary power has temporarily failed. Restoration may be possible in two days, ...by the book, Admiral

 

[Overgeeked]

Communicators work without cell towers and satellites.

Kor

Wow. That's deep and meaningful and irrelevant. Modern devices are more capable than what's imagined in many TOS devices. In other ways, they're fantastically beyond us, of course they are. I don't think you have a point other than to naysay.

 

[Timewalker]

You know I actually struggle with this in the books sometimes. The landing party is stranded on a planet, they separate and agree to rendezvous in exactly fifteen minutes, or maybe the entire planet is going to explode in the 30.5 minutes. How do keep track of time without watches?

I mean, sure, Spock can probably maintain an accurate countdown in his head, but what about us mere humans?

And how come nobody ever seems to worry about time zones when visiting alien worlds? Just once I want to see Kirk order Uhura to contact the Rymarian high chancellor only to be reminded that "Um, sir, it's noon our time, but it's two in the morning in the Rymarian capitol . . . ."

Why would Kirk worry about interrupting someone else's sleep, when that person is very likely part of the reason Kirk's sleep got interrupted in the first place?

Voyager addressed the issue slightly when the Romulan scientist contacted Janeway during her sleep period and she took the call while wearing her nightgown. The fact is that when a situation is critical, the time of day or night isn't anywhere near as important as just getting the problem solved.

As I've tried explaining to various agencies and services in RL, you can't schedule an emergency 48 hours in advance.

 

[Captain Rob]

The official clock on the TOS Enterprise was on the bottom of the astrogator device right in front of the Captain's chair. It's seen several times and has a display for both the stardate and the time. Sulu refers to it from time to time. But it's most often seen in "Tomorrow is Yesterday".