Editing Swatch Internet Time (section)

==Description==
{{See also|Abolition of time zones}}

The concept was touted as an alternative, decimal measure of time. One of the supposed goals was to simplify the way people in different [[time zone]]s communicate about time, mostly by eliminating time zones altogether. It also does away with the division of the day into 12 or 24 parts (hours), then 60 parts (minutes), then 60 parts (seconds), then 1000 parts (milliseconds). Furthermore, there is no confusion between the [[12 hour time|AM/PM system]] and [[24-hour time]].

===Beats===
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders floatright"
|+{{Proper name|.beats}} per unit of time
!scope="col"| Unit
!scope="col"| Beats conversion
|-
!scope="row"| 1 day
| 1,000 {{Proper name|.beats}}
|-
!scope="row"| 1 hour
| 41.6 {{Proper name|.beats}}
|-
!scope="row"| 1 min 26.4 s
| 1 {{Proper name|.beat}}
|-
!scope="row"| 1 min
| 0.694 {{Proper name|.beats}}
|-
!scope="row"| 1 s
| 0.011574 {{Proper name|.beats}}
|}

Instead of hours and minutes, the [[solar day|mean solar day]] is divided into 1,000 parts called ''{{Proper name|.beats}}''. Each {{Proper name|.beat}} lasts 1&nbsp;minute and 26.4&nbsp;seconds. One {{Proper name|.beat}} is equal to one decimal minute in [[Decimal time#France|French decimal time]].

Although Swatch does not specify units smaller than one {{Proper name|.beat}}, [[Third-party developer|third party]] implementations have extended the standard by adding "centibeats" or "sub-beats", for extended precision: @248.00. Each "centibeat" is a hundredth of a {{Proper name|.beat}} and is therefore equal to one [[Decimal time#France|French decimal second]] (0.864&nbsp;seconds).<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://wiki.budts.be/internettime
| title = Nucleus Plugin: NP_InternetTime
| work = TeRanEX Wiki
| date = 2005-11-23
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070807061223/http://wiki.budts.be/internettime
| archive-date = 2007-08-07
| url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.artefakt.com/projects/ibeat/
| title = iBeat
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081224143907/http://www.artefakt.com/projects/ibeat/
| archive-date = 2008-12-24
| url-status = dead}}</ref>

===Time zones===
There are no time zones; instead, the new time scale of Biel Mean Time (BMT) is used, based on the company's headquarters in [[Biel/Bienne|Biel, Switzerland]]. Despite the name, BMT does not refer to mean [[solar time]] at the Biel [[meridian (geography)|meridian]] (7°15′E), but to the standard time there. It is equivalent to [[Central European Time]] and [[West Africa Time]], or [[UTC]]+1.

Like UTC, Swatch Internet Time is the same throughout the world. For example, when the time is 875&nbsp;{{Proper name|.beats}}, or @875, in New York, it is also @875 in Tokyo. Unlike civil time in most European countries, Internet Time does not observe [[daylight saving time]], and thus it matches Central European Time during (European) winter and [[Western European Summer Time]], which is observed by the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal and Spain's [[Canary Islands]] during summer.

===Notation===
The most distinctive aspect of Swatch Internet Time is its notation; as an example, "@248" would indicate a time 248&nbsp;{{Proper name|.beats}} after midnight, equivalent to a fractional day of 0.248&nbsp;CET, or 04:57:07.2&nbsp;UTC. No explicit format was provided for dates, although the Swatch website formerly displayed the Gregorian calendar date in the order [[Calendar date#Gregorian, day–month–year (DMY)|day-month-year]], separated by periods and prefixed by the letter ''d'' (e.g. d31.01.99).{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

===Calculation from UTC+1===
The formula for calculating the time in {{Proper name|.beats}} from UTC+1 is:

<math display=block>\left\lfloor\frac{3600h+60m+s}{86.4}\right\rfloor,</math>
<!--Note. The UTC seconds have been removed, because they'd be already rounded afterwards -->

Where ''h'' is UTC+1 hours and ''m'' is UTC+1 minutes. The result is rounded down.<ref>{{cite web
| title=How do I get the current time in Swatch Internet Time in Java?
| url=https://stackoverflow.com/a/22693795
| author=Jop V.
| date=2014-03-27
| publisher=[[StackOverflow]]
| access-date=2018-09-18}}</ref>

=== Start of the day ===
Example cities across the globe @000 BEATS midnight:
{| class="wikitable"
|+@000 BEATS
!City
!Time
!Time zone
!UTC offset
|-
|San Francisco
|<code>03:00 PM</code>
|PST
|UTC-8
|-
|New York
|<code>06:00 PM</code>
|EST
|UTC-5
|-
|London
|<code>11:00 PM</code>
|BST
|UTC
|-
|Biel
|<code>12:00 midnight</code>
|CET
|UTC+1
|-
|Tokyo
|<code>08:00 AM</code>
|JST
|UTC+9
|-
|Sydney
|<code>09:00 AM</code>
|AEST
|UTC+10
|}