Some people say they like seeing seconds displayed at all times on a chess clock but is there any real advantage to seeing seconds displayed at all times? I guess one possible advantage is that it can make it easier to know if the clock is set correctly. For example. if the clock just shows 2:00, you might not be able to tell just from the display if its set for two hours or two minutes. However, if the clock is easy enough to set, this shouldn’t be a problem.
One common error people make is setting a clock for 1:30:05;d0 instead of 1:30:00;d5 and seeing the colon flashing five times before it drops from 1:30 to 1:29. That makes them think that delay is set when it actually isn’t.
It also helps see the difference between ;+30 and ;d30 (Bronstein/add-back delay) because after spending 17 seconds moving you more easily see 1:12:56 going to either 1:13:13 (Bronstein delay) or 1:13:26 (increment) versus seeing 1:12 go to 1:13 for both.
Well, it certainly can’t be a disadvantage to see seconds at all times, unless some people might claim that 5 digits at a time (h:mm:ss) is too many and too confusing. Or unless the extra digits cause other problems, such as not leaving enough room for the delay time and/or the move count.
Bill Smythe
Some people have said that seeing seconds at all times is distracting.