时区达人腕表世界中的旅行一族

If you travel regularly， you understand that figuring out what time it is where you are， where you are going and where you started can be a real challenge.

Yet， time is essential to travel - planes are scheduled to the minute， and on the traveler’s side， it’s important to know what time it is no matter what part of the world you are in， so you don’t miss your flight or you make sure you are on time for that important meeting. Also， you need to know what time it is back home so you don’t call and wake people up in the middle of the night.

Trying to do all that with an ordinary， single time zone watch is challenging， involving mathematics and mental gymnastics not so easily accomplished when jet lagged.

That’s where time zone watches， also known as dual time， world time or GMT/UTC watches， come in. These watches have a way to display at least two time zones to make things easier on travelers， doing the calculations required to figure out time zones for you， so the hardest decision you have to make is which watch to buy.

在旅途中同时摸清出发地、所在地和目的地的时间会有多难？对于经验丰富的旅行者而言，你不得不承认这是一个挑战。

时间就是贯穿旅程的节骨眼：航班的精确度以分钟计算，而旅客无论身处何地，都必须牢牢掌握时间，这样才不会误点。即便是在往自己家里赶，时间对你也一样重要：你不愿在某个静静的午夜用电话“突袭”你的亲朋好友，给他们带来尴尬吧？

如果你始终戴着一枚单时区的普通手表长途跋涉，你需要拥有超乎寻常的心算能力；而万一飞机误了点，你的脑力将遭受加倍考验。

于是我们就有了多时区手表，人们通常还管它叫GMT/UTC或双时区手表。这类宝贝都至少能显示两个以上的不同时区，是旅行者当之无愧的福音。制造商为人们克服了时区的挑战，但我们还将面临一个新的问题：哪款多时区手表更适合你呢？

A Short History of （World） Time

Before the advent of standard time in 1918， every city and region in the world operated on "local solar time" or"apparent solar time" （also known as"sun time"）， which was its own system of time independent of any other city. Most cities around the world had some sort of timekeeper， a clock chime， a whistle or a bell， to which people could synchronize their clocks and pocket watches. Back then， in a city like Los Angeles， local time could vary as much as a minute or more from one side of the city to the other due to the sun’s relative position in the sky. For example， sun time differed by about 30 seconds between the two ends of the San FranciscoOakland Bridge. When it was 12 noon in New York City， it was 12：12 pm in Boston， Massachusetts； 11：56 am in Philadelphia， Pennsylvania； 11：30 am in Cleveland， Ohio； 11：14 am in Indianapolis， Indiana； 11：46 am in Richmond， Virginia； and 11：36 am in Pittsburgh， Pennsylvania.

The United States federal government officially adopted Standard Time on March 19， 1918. By 1929， most countries around the world started keeping time by this system. In 1972， the majority of the world adopted Coordinated Universal Time （UTC） and now official time zones are indicated by +/- UTC， rather than GMT. There are， however， some parts of the world that divide time up differently than originally conceived. Newfoundland， India， Iran， Afghanistan， Venezuela， Burma， the Marquesas， as well as parts of Australia use half-hour deviations from standard time， and some nations， such as Nepal， and some provinces， like the Chatham Islands， use quarter-hour deviations.

The country with the most time zones is Russia， with 11 （due to its size）， while the United States uses nine standard time zones. China and India don’t use Coordinated Universal Time and only have one time zone.

简谈世界时间

标准时间的概念始于1918年，而此前世界各地都以“真太阳时”来计算。所谓真太阳时，就是按地球绕太阳行走的真实椭圆轨道来推算的时间；这种计时方式要求每天正午12点太阳处于头顶最高位置。正因如此，像洛杉矶这么大的城市，本地时间自然会有两头误差，出入可能在一分钟甚至更多，而不同城市间也常会有时间差。所以许多城市都有自己的计时员或大鸣钟，城中人的钟表均以此为准。

举些精确的例子。按真太阳时计算，旧金山-奥克兰大桥的两端时差为30秒；而纽约市正午12点时，马萨诸塞州的波士顿为12点12分，宾夕法尼亚州的费城和匹兹堡分别是11点56分和11点36分，俄亥俄州的克里夫兰是11点30分，印第安纳州的印第安纳波利斯为11点14分，弗吉尼亚州首府里士满为11点46分。相对于“真太阳时”，“平太阳时”则假定一年中每天都是平均的24小时，如此便有了标准时间的概念。1918年3月19日，美国联邦政府正式采用标准时间。时至1929年，全球多数国家也都采用了这类时间系统。而到了1972年，世界上绝大部分地区都已在使用世界协调时间（即UTC），目前世界各区域的官方时间划分均按+/-UTC为标准，而并非格林尼治标准时间。然而，还是有少数地区保留了自己独特的时区划分方式。比如加拿大的纽芬兰、伊朗、阿富汗、委内瑞拉、缅甸、玛克萨斯群岛以及澳大利亚局部地区，这些地方都以半小时来划分；而尼泊尔和查塔姆群岛（新西兰东部）是用三刻钟来划分时区的。

俄罗斯时区多达11个，为世界之最。美国也不赖，总共拥有9个标准时区。中国和印度并不使用UTC标准时间，各自仅有一个时区。

What to Look for in a Time Zone Watch？

There are a number of ways that timepieces accomplish displaying more than one time zone， and the one that suits you best depends on how many time zones you traverse. Some dual time watches use two dials， one above the other， while others use a small subdial on the main dial， which indicates home time， allowing you to set the bigger display to the time where you are staying. GMT watches use a separate pointer hand to point to the second time zone or to GMT/UTC.（Which you can then use to calculate any time zone in the world if you know the UTC offset， e.g. Beijing is UTC + 8， standard time， while Geneva is UTC + 1， standard time.）

If you only need to know two time zones at a glance， then a dual time or GMT watch is for you. These watches are simple， easy to use and easy to read.

If you are a serious world traveler， consider a world time watch， one that displays the standard 24 hour time zones. There are a few that display the additional half hour time zones as well， which is a very complicated feat. Make sure the watch you choose is readable with some world time watches， you need a magnifying glass to see the different time zones you don’t need that when you’re jet lagged.

Sometimes the different time zones are displayed on the dial of the watch， on a ring around the dial or on the bezel， or there might be an electronic display that will show the world time zones. In addition， there are watches which have a day/night indicator for the home time very helpful so you don’t call someone in the middle of the night.

With a world time/dual time/GMT watch， you have a much better chance of mastering the time zones， no matter how many you cross. Unfortunately， your watch can’t help you with jet lag. For that， you are on your own.

双时区vs世界时区，你更适合哪一种？

手表有多种方式来显示两个以上的时区，选择哪种方式得看使用者在旅途中跨越多少个时区。有些双时区手表采用双表盘设计，有些则在主表盘内加入一个小型的副表盘，你可以将一个表盘设置成家里的时间，另一个就是目前所处位置的时间。双时区手表统称为GMT手表，它们都使用一枚独立的指针来标示第二时区或是GMT/ UTC时间，你可以根据标准时区算法加权推算，比如北京是UTC+8，而日内瓦是UTC+1。

GMT手表使用十分简便，瞬间就能识别两个不同时区的时间。但如果你是位资深旅行者，一款拥有二十四小时刻度的世界时区手表也许更适合你。有些手表设计十分复杂，时区显示精确到了半小时。当你选择这类手表时，需要弄清楚那些刻度或信息是否便于普通识别。因为有些宝贝做得太过细密，你非得动用放大镜才能辨明不同时区。当然了，不少世界时区手表都将信息刻在表盘周围，要不就是使用电子显示窗口。有些还带昼夜提示，以免因时差错乱而向对方发起“夜半电话骚扰”。

不管是双时区手表还是世界时区手表，它们都不是万能的。如果航班误点，我们还是得伤点脑筋把时间给算准了。但要是少了它们，我们就很难在时区的穿行中运筹帷幄。