NASA has commissioned a special mechanical watch from a local watchmaker that will keep Mars time. The Martian day is longer than an Earth day, so apparently the folks running the Mars Spirit mission were getting a little off, essentially having to work 24 hours and 39 minutes every day. The new watch may help some folks keep track of Spirit’s schedule, which is linked to the Martian day because of the sunlight it uses to both charge its batteries and also for taking pictures. For most though the watch is just a fun way to commemorate the mission.
The watch is only available to mission employees at this point as the watchmaker ramps up production, but he’s got plans to sell them to the general public as soon as he gets on top of the NASA orders. Hopefully he’ll make it a dual planet zone watch, since most supervisors are not likely to look kindly on the “I’m sorry I’m late, I was on Mars time” excuse.