Q for real sailors (Or guys with some knowledge about nautical maths)
 

I am doing for SH3 a replica of a Hanhart pocket chronometer, and not just that one but also many other models from other Kriegsmarine contractors (F.e. Huber) seemed to have divisions for a decimal minute (A minute divided in 100 parts, obviously 0.6 seconds each). Is there any nautical use for the added precision? Why would they want to have such a dial, besides the normal 60 seconds one? AFAIK only time study disciplines for industrial applications have any interest in that, but is there a nautical use of it? :hmmm:

Thanks

Picture of the chronometer:

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/3384/hanhart3siene1.png

Not so much nautical as much as astronomical

Arc minutes / seconds and fractions thereof.

It is also not uncommon for entitys to keep track of time in decimal units

eg 12:30am would be noted at 12.5 ... 12:45 would be 12.75... get it?

Aye, astronomical was what I was vaguely supposing, but I found it a bit weird to measure anything astronomical within 60 seconds :hmmm:

Relating to the time 12.5, etc, again this scale is limited to 60 seconds :hmmm:

Thanks for your reply, the fact that no one else comes up with a clear answer leads me more and more to think how strange this is. May be simply those contractors had that model already for industrial purposes and handed it by hundreds to the Kriegsmarine...and there's no special nautical reason for the scale.

I would guess it would make calculations easyer tealing with 1/100th is easyer than 1/60th.

Yes, might also be that in certain cases. I also noticed that the scale would give automatically a percentage of a minute, i.e. 2%, 5%, 13% and so on :shucks: