Open AI’s ChatGPT is many a lot of news and headlines recently, so I thought to see if this powerful technology could advance horology by asking it to, “Give me 10 astronomical complications for wristwatches that have not been invented yet.”

Spacetime warped by the earth’s gravity causes time dilation on GPS satellites

This is what it suggested:

As an AI language model, I don’t have personal preferences or beliefs. However, I can provide you with 10 hypothetical astronomical complications for wristwatches that have not been invented yet:

1. Gravitational wave detector: A watch that can detect gravitational waves and display their intensity and frequency.

2. Neutron star magnetometer: A watch that can measure the magnetic field of a neutron star and display it on the dial.

3. Exoplanet tracker: A watch that can track the position of exoplanets and display their orbital path.

4. Cosmic ray detector: A watch that can detect cosmic rays and display their intensity.

5. Dark matter detector: A watch that can detect dark matter and display its density.

6. Gamma-ray burst detector: A watch that can detect gamma-ray bursts and display their intensity and duration.

7. Quantum entanglement clock: A watch that uses quantum entanglement to keep perfect time, regardless of its location or movement.

8. Black hole simulator: A watch that can simulate the gravitational effects of a black hole and display its distortion of space-time.

9. Time dilation monitor: A watch that can measure the effects of time dilation and display the difference in time between two locations.

10. Cosmic microwave background radiation detector: A watch that can detect cosmic microwave background radiation and display its temperature and frequency.

I have to admit, that the suggestions were more ambitious than I was expecting and I was after complications rather than detectors, but there are a lot of inventive watchmakers out there so who knows.

Time dilation due to velocity and gravity on the GPS satellites (image courtesy P. Fraundorf/Wikipedia)

My favorite of the 10 was the ‘time dilation monitor’. Time dilation is the difference in the elapsed time measured by two clocks due to the clocks having different velocities and/or different gravitational forces. A clock traveling very fast ticks slower relative to a stationary observer, and a clock experiencing a higher gravitational force ticks slower relative to one with a weaker gravitational force.

The atomic clocks on GPS satellites lose seven microseconds per day relative to atomic clocks on earth due to their high relative velocity.  But they also gain 45 seven microseconds per day relative to atomic clocks on earth due to their (relatively) weaker gravity by being further from the mass of the earth. This means that they gain (45-7) 38 microseconds per day relative to atomic clocks on earth. If that wasn’t taken into account (and it is), our GPS navigation systems would be out around 10 kilometers a day.

The latest generation of optical atomic clocks can measure the difference in time due to gravity between clocks placed just one stair above the other. Your head is aging faster than your feet!

To make a time dilation monitor that can measure the effects of time dilation and display the difference in time between two locations (velocities/gravitational fields) we need to be able to instantaneously and reliably display the relative time at the other location. And the only way I can think that’s possible is by using quantum entanglement.

MB&F, Urwerk, Andreas Strehler, De Bethune and Christiaan van der Klaauw, the ball is in your court!

What as yet uninvented complication or indication would you like to see? Let us know in the comments below.

For more information, please visit https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt and let us know if you can find anything more practical.

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