Solution

The concept of numbers doesn’t come up. The way the hands are conveys the fraction of the hour or half day that has passed. There’s never a need to know the exact number, time is continuous and not discrete. The minute hand will move fractional minutes, too.

I’m surprised nobody has mentioned Parallax Error yet.

Because when the time is say…9:22 and 5 seconds, the hand will clearly be on the 9:22 mark. But when it’s 9:22 and 45 seconds, it looks like it’s actually 9:23 when it isn’t yet.

The best way to avoid this error is to look exactly straight on at the watch or clock, which isn’t always possible for wall clocks. If you look from an angle, it is easier to mistake the time for 9:23 or 9:21 when it is really 9:22. This is a physical limitation of any measurement gauge or dial.

The other bit of information is the second hand, if you have one.

My mental algorithm goes something like this, it i were to step through it slowly:

1. General impression of the clock. The shape of the hour and minute hand together. I recognize the approximate time: a few minutes past 9:20. This is usually sufficient precision for my needs.
2. Minute hand fine position: somewhere between 9:22 and 9:23.
3. Second hand position: at 45 seconds. I now know the time is 9:22:45.

This gets faster with practice. Instead of having to work out the time, you’ll just know it, the more you do it.

I used to read analog clocks to the nearest five minutes. It’s just a quick glance and you (used to) rarely need to be that exact.

However my kids never got used to analog clocks despite an annoying number scattered throughout our house. It takes them too long to process what I mean by “quarter of”. They’re in college this year so it’s time to surrender in that battle. Now I’m the one who spends too much time reading analog clocks, trying to read them to nearest minute.

With digital clocks everywhere, gps exact trip times, scheduled meetings, society has gotten much more exact with time anyway. Being within five minutes is no longer good enough

Depends on the face. My watch has a section for each minute. So I’ll see if it’s 30 seconds or more past the hour. If it isn’t Then it’s the minute the hand is closest to. Else, it’s minus one. I set my watch to the second exactly, although it does drift over time.

Years and years of use of analog clocks helps.

Get a good clock - the ten minute intervals will be clearly marked as well as five with lil’ submarkers. You can train your pattern recognition that way

Source: am old

GenX here. I wanted to reassure you that it didn’t come naturally to me and i grew up when this was still taught in school. The real answer is practice. Read a clock several times a day for a few weeks. Take a moment to think about the mintue hand. Is it about 2/5 of the way to the next digit? 3/5? After a while, you won’t have to think. You will just recognize.

I … look at them. There is no actual thinking that occurs. If it is 9:22 then it is 9:22. If it is 9:23 then it is 9:23. I understand your question, but if the trailing side of the minute hand is not yet even with or past the plane of the upcoming minute, then it remains the previous minute.

You’ll just get used to it over time. Think of it as spatial rather than numeric.

It’s actually easier on the brain in my opinion.

Its six – five = (approx) 06:25:00 (notice minute hand is pointing at 5)

its seven – eight’n’half = (approx) 08:42:05 (minute hand pointing between 8 and 9)

I just do quick maths, I have multiplication table memorized from all the way to 9, since first grade.

They literally make a “poem” on multiplication table in mainland China where I was from (all the way to 9x9, but multiples of 10 is obvious so they ommitted it, afiak).

So my thought process is:
一五的五 (1, 5 = 5)
二五一十 (2, 5, 10)
三五十五 (3, 5, 15)
四五二十 (4, 5, 20)
五五二十五 (5, 5, 25)
五六三十 (5, 6, 30)
五七三十五 (5, 7, 35)
五八四十 (5, 8, 40)
五九四十五 (5, 9, 45)
(this is the point where my thoughts switch away from mandarin and just thinking pure numbers)
5 x 10 = 50
5 x 11 = 55
5 x 12 = wait… no need, its just 0 mins again

So yea just remember how to recall the “poem” out of thin air and summon the numbers, takes about like 1-2 seconds, mandarin being 1 sylable per charater make it easier to remember (七七四十九 – 5 sylables vs “Seven times seven is fourty nine” – 9 sylables). Sorry I don’t know how everyone else do multiplication tables, my brain works differently, but funny thing is, 11x11 to 14x14 really messed with my brain since it only goes to 9x9

(Yes I typed all that just to show off how they literally crammed a weird entire multiplication “poem” in my head that’s still stuck in my head to this day when I’m no longer in the country lolz. Sorry for the boring wall of text xD)

Edit: typos

Well this is certainly a question I never thought I’d read on the internet.

The school systems need an overhaul.

I guess I’m at that age where stuff like this means I’m old 😂

I’ll answer your question though: just buy a watch that the minutes are clearly marked with ticks and the minute hand moves by the minute and isn’t in constant motion.

Here’s some friendly advice though. Before digital, there really wasn’t a way to be so accurate down to the minute. Remember there wasn’t even really a way to get the right time. You just got it from somewhere else and hoped that time was accurate. Most people set their watches to the places that we’re important to them, ie work. So that they they were on time to whatever it was that they needed to get to.

With that said, anyone that needed pinpoint accuracy had other means of getting the time or they used very expensive chronometers that kept time extremely well. In other words normal people just did stuff a couple minutes early in case their watches were slow.

ALL OF THAT to say if you want accuracy down to the minute, just use digital.

deleted by creator

I break it into quarters first 12-3, 3-6, 6-9, 9-12. I break it into thirds next, this gets the hour.

Then for minutes i do the same and just do quick caculations in my head,

1/3 of a quarter before 6 is 25 minutes, 1/3 of a quarter after 9 is 50 minutes.

The only thing im really remembering is that values at the quarters,

(12/0 hours - 0 min), 3 hr - 15 min, (6 hr - 30 min), 9 hr - 45 minutes.

After a while it becomes second nature. I learned this when i was a kid because digital clocks werent as common then.