Editing Swatch Internet Time (section)

{{short description|Alternate time system by watch maker Swatch}}
{{pic|Swatch beat Logo.svg|Logo of Swatch Internet Time}}
{| class="wikitable floatright"
|+ Time{{efn|at page generation }} {{purge|(update to view correct time)}}
|-
! 24-hour time (UTC)
|-
| style="text-align: center" | {{nowrap|{{#time:H}}:{{#time:i}}}}
|-
!Date (UTC)
|-
| style="text-align: center" | {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}}
|-
! .beat time (BMT)
|-
| style="text-align: center" | {{nowrap|@{{#expr: floor( {{#expr:{{#expr:{{#expr:{{#time:H|now + 1 hour}}*3600}}+{{#expr:{{#time:i}}*60}}+{{#time:s}}}}/86.4}} )}}}}
|}
'''Swatch Internet Time''' (or '''{{Proper name|.beat time}}''') is a [[decimal time]] system introduced in 1998 by the [[Swatch]] corporation as part of the marketing campaign for their line of ".beat" watches. Those without a watch could use the Internet to view the current time on the watchmaker's website, but now a [https://beats.wiki/ dedicated wiki] serves the purpose.<ref>{{Cite web |title=.Beat Swatch® Internet Time Wiki |url=https://beats.wiki/ |website=beats.wiki}}</ref> The concept of .beat time is similar to ''decimal minutes'' in [[French Revolutionary calendar|French Revolutionary decimal time]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.swatch.com/en-us/internet-time.html | title=INTERNET TIME | website=www.swatch.com}}</ref>

Instead of hours and minutes, in Swatch Time the [[mean solar day]] is divided into 1,000 equal parts called ''{{Proper name|.beat}}''s, meaning each {{Proper name|.beat}} lasts {{Convert|86.4|seconds|minutes|abbr=off}} in standard time, and an hour lasts for approximately 42 .beats. The time of day always references the amount of time that has passed since [[midnight]] (standard time) in [[Biel, Switzerland]], where Swatch's headquarters is located. For example, @248 BEATS indicates a time 248&nbsp;{{Proper name|.beats}} after midnight, or {{frac|248|1000}} of a day (just over 5&nbsp;hours and 57&nbsp;minutes; or 5:57 AM [[UTC+1]]).

There are no [[time zone]]s in Swatch Internet Time; it is a globally unified timekeeping system based on what Swatch calls "Biel Mean Time" (BMT), the time zone conventionally known as [[Central European Time]] or [[West Africa Time]]. Note that it is based on the time zone and not the actual [[mean solar time]] measured in Biel. Also, unlike [[civil time]] in Switzerland and many other countries, Swatch Internet Time has never observed [[daylight saving time]] (DST), even prior to more recent decisions to abandon DST in certain locales.<ref>As of 2024, several jurisdictions including [[Alberta]] have abandoned Daylight Savings Time in favor of a static time zone for [[agriculture]]-related reasons.</ref>