Not a bargain!

This is how much the world’s most accurate clock costs

Manufacturer Shimadzu hopes that interested parties from the research community will come forward.(Bild: x.com/SHIMADZU_PR)

It looks like a wide refrigerator and is so precise that it would take ten billion years for it to deviate by one second. We're talking about the world's most accurate watch, which is now on sale in Japan.

The strontium lattice clock is 100 times more accurate than caesium atomic clocks, which were previously considered the most accurate clocks, explains the Kyoto-based company Shimadzu, which built the "Aether Clock OC 020" (see below). 

Offer aimed at researchers with high purchasing power
The machine is around one meter high and, with a volume of around 250 liters, is small for its type. Shimadzu plans to sell ten of its clocks over the next three years. The company hopes that its customers will use them for scientific research, for example to observe tectonic activity. Interested parties will have to dig deep into their pockets, however, as the price is quite steep at the equivalent of 3.09 million euros.

Grid clocks have already been installed in the well-known Skytree transmission tower in Tokyo to test the general theory of relativity. This states that time passes more slowly in places with strong gravity.