Alan Capon:

A lot of people think only old style clocks with synchronous motors are affected by the mains frequency. This is not the case, and it is surprising how many new electronic clocks, including alarm clocks, use a calculation based on the mains frequency rather than a highly accurate chrystal oscillator. I guess this is because the calculation results in a cheaper clock for the achieved accuracy. 


Regards,


Alan. 

Also, think about time switches. There are plenty of these everywhere, many embedded in electronic devices such as central heater timers, video recorders, etc. I imagine that since most electronic ones are battery-maintained they are timed by quartz oscillators rather than the mains frequency. But there is still a big market for electro-mechanical time switches, which take their timing off mains frequency. They are popular because they are cheap, cheerful and easy to use, and do keep good time. (Well until there is a power failure; then things go to pot.)

Alan Capon:

A lot of people think only old style clocks with synchronous motors are affected by the mains frequency. This is not the case, and it is surprising how many new electronic clocks, including alarm clocks, use a calculation based on the mains frequency rather than a highly accurate chrystal oscillator. I guess this is because the calculation results in a cheaper clock for the achieved accuracy. 


Regards,


Alan. 

Also, think about time switches. There are plenty of these everywhere, many embedded in electronic devices such as central heater timers, video recorders, etc. I imagine that since most electronic ones are battery-maintained they are timed by quartz oscillators rather than the mains frequency. But there is still a big market for electro-mechanical time switches, which take their timing off mains frequency. They are popular because they are cheap, cheerful and easy to use, and do keep good time. (Well until there is a power failure; then things go to pot.)