Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Swatch tried to make a simple, decimal-based unit of time called the "beat" in 1998. It was a failure. I started with the question "Why isn't time metric," but soon the question became "why are there sixty seconds in a minute?"
I followed the thread all the way down the rabbit hole, and it turns out that right around the time humans started divvying up time, we really liked base 12 counting.
This video happens to be 60 seconds long, and a lot of people think this explanation is simply too quaint to be true, so I've done a lot of double checking, and found the following references. Hope you enjoy this intellectual bon mot! -BB
SOURCES:
University of Texas at Austin, for the radio program "Earthdate": earthdate.org/episodes/how-10-fingers-became-12-hours
Keeping Time: Why 60 Minutes? | LiveScience - livescience.com/44964-why-60-minutes-in-an-hour.html
Why is a Minute Divided into 60 Seconds? | Scientific American - scientificamerican.com/article/experts-time-division-days-hours-minutes
Why Are There 24 Hours In A Day And 60 Minutes In An Hour? | ScienceABC - scienceabc.com/eyeopeners/why-are-there-24-hours-in-a-day-and-60-minutes-in-an-hour.html
History of Timekeeping Devices | Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_timekeeping_devices
Second | Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second
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Swatch tried to make a simple, decimal-based unit of time called the "beat" in 1998. It was a failure. I started with the question "Why isn't time metric," but soon the question became "why are there sixty seconds in a minute?"
I followed the thread all the way down the rabbit hole, and it turns out that right around the time humans started divvying up time, we really liked base 12 counting.
This video happens to be 60 seconds long, and a lot of people think this explanation is simply too quaint to be true, so I've done a lot of double checking, and found the following references. Hope you enjoy this intellectual bon mot! -BB
SOURCES:
University of Texas at Austin, for the radio program "Earthdate": earthdate.org/episodes/how-10-fingers-became-12-hours
Keeping Time: Why 60 Minutes? | LiveScience - livescience.com/44964-why-60-minutes-in-an-hour.html
Why is a Minute Divided into 60 Seconds? | Scientific American - scientificamerican.com/article/experts-time-division-days-hours-minutes
Why Are There 24 Hours In A Day And 60 Minutes In An Hour? | ScienceABC - scienceabc.com/eyeopeners/why-are-there-24-hours-in-a-day-and-60-minutes-in-an-hour.html
History of Timekeeping Devices | Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_timekeeping_devices
Second | Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second
SUPPORT US
Directly fund the show through Patreon!
patreon.com/modernrogue
You can also get Modern Rogue shirts from our shop.
scamstuff.com/products/mr-shirts
Need a new computer? You can support us by getting one from Doghouse Systems!
doghousesystems.com/rogue
Use promo code “ROGUE” and get a free 1TB NVMe SSD with your order!
CREDITS
Brian Brushwood - host
twitter.com/shwood
Ryan Fulks - camera operator / editor
SOCIALS
Discord (patron reward): discord.gg/modernrogue
Subreddit: modernrogue.reddit.com
Outtakes & BTS: youtube.com/scamstuff
Scam Nation: youtube.com/scamschool
Twitter: twitter.com/modernrogueshow
Instagram: instagram.com/modernrogueshow
TikTok: tiktok.com/@ModernRogue
MR Articles: themodernrogue.com
