Moving clocks in the hospital?

Question

hey all...i was in hospital a month ago giving birth to my son.He woke at night for a feed and while i was sitting in the chair giving his bottle the clock on the wall said it was around 1am..i looked at my wee boy then back at the clock which showed it was 2am..i kind of panicked thinking i had fallen asleep with him in my arms then the next thing the clock started to turn clockwise by itself as if someone was winding the back of it..it stopped at 4am so i figured the batteries where acting up. When i finished his bottle i put him back down to sleep then climbed into bed. Next thing the clock starts turn anti-clockwise and stops at 1:25am. I looked at my mobile and seen it had stopped at the right time. For the week after it happened it worked perfectly. I was wondering if anyone has had something like this happen before and if theirs a reasonable explanation for it as it kinda freaked me out a bit..

Answer 1

You can get clocks that are erm kind of connected to some kind of central clock thing, that are supposed to keep the correct time better. We had them where I used to work, and if they lost their connection they would spind round and round and round!

Ok I just googled it, they are called radio controlled clocks!

Answer 2

If a central clock system is in use, and an individual clock has got out of sync with the master unit, each hand will go the shortest way back to 1200, and then begin to pulse back to the correct time in the normal direction. I daresay that such clocks are often reset at night when it is reckoned as being more convenient as less people are going to be watching them! Not true in your instant, of course.

Answer 3

rosemary's baby?

Answer 4

That happened occasionally to the clocks at school. All the clocks are supposed to be set at the same time (they're all controlled by the same thing). If the clock stops or somehow gets set at the wrong time when it's being set back to the proper time it may go very fast in either direction.  

Answer 5

I'm with the other replies on this- you saw a clock radio-controlled from a central "atomic clock". And they do this at *2 AM* when the clock antics are least likely to be noticed.

I have one at home- I can set it any time by day or replace the batteries, and the clock corrects itself overnight: or should- mine took two days to settle in. It needs a kinda strong signal, like AM radio.