The “Aether clock OC 020,” touted as the world’s most accurate clock, went on sale in Japan for $3.3 million on Wednesday. Manufactured by Kyoto-based Shimadzu Corp, its precision is so extraordinary that it would take 10 billion years for it to be off by just one second. This strontium optical lattice clock is 100 times more accurate than the caesium atomic clock—the current standard for measuring seconds—which makes it an invaluable tool for advanced scientific research.
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Despite being compact—standing at around one meter tall and having a volume of approximately 250 liters—the clock is designed for fieldwork and research applications. Shimadzu Corp aims to sell 10 of these high-precision clocks over the next three years, with hopes that they will significantly aid scientific studies, particularly in monitoring tectonic activity.
Previously, similar optical lattice clocks have been deployed at Japan’s Skytree to test Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, which posits that time flows more slowly in areas with strong gravitational fields.
