History Main / ImplausibleSynchrony

In fiction, however, every clock and/or watch shows the exact same time of day. Always. Sometimes even ones [[ArtisticLicenseGeography in different time zones]]. All miserable cheapo wristwatches and all cell phones and street clocks run in harmonious synchrony with the precision of an atomic clock. Sometimes used for dramatic effect by highlighting the improbable, often significant timing of an event, or the fact that two remote, seemingly unrelated events happened at the same time. Normally fueled by ConservationOfDetail.

SuperTrope of TimeZonesDoNotExist (time of day is the same in multiple far-apart places when it should logically be zoned) and SisterTrope of UniversalUniverseTime (the rest of the universe follows Earth's time system). Compare RightOnTheTick (the association of important plot events with a specific time). Contrast ClockDiscrepancy (the time of an event doesn't happen at the time it was said). Might be the result of ClockTampering (changing a clock's time for an ulterior motive). Nothing to do with {{Mirror Routine}}s or FearfulSymmetry.

* ''Series/You2018'': In Season 3, when Love poisons Joe with a paralytic that absorbs through the skin, he shows symptoms and then collapses at the moment that Love's speech ends with her saying that he's been poisoned by her.

SuperTrope of TimeZonesDoNotExist (time of day is the same in multiple far-apart places when it should logically be zoned). SisterTrope of UniversalUniverseTime (the rest of the universe follows Earth's time system). Contrast ClockDiscrepancy (the time of an event doesn't happen at the time it was said). Might be the result of ClockTampering (changing a clock's time for an ulterior motive). Nothing to do with {{Mirror Routine}}s or FearfulSymmetry.

Might be the result of ClockTampering (changing a clock's time for an ulterior motive). SuperTrope of TimeZonesDoNotExist (time of day is the same in multiple far-apart places when it should logically be zoned). SisterTrope of UniversalUniverseTime (the rest of the universe follows Earth's time system). Nothing to do with {{Mirror Routine}}s or FearfulSymmetry.

* ''Manga/DetectiveSchoolQ'': A television broadcast of people evacuating an enormous department store due to a bomb threat shows that the time is fifteen minutes later than the clock on the wall in the room where people are watching the broadcast. The broadcast is [[spoiler:actually coming from a set.]] Since the detectives don't have enough time to thoroughly search the department store before the bomb goes off, they choose instead to trick the already captured bomber into saying where he's hidden it after he believes it's gone off.
* ''Anime/{{Medabots}}'': The villain doctors footage of a fight between Metabee and his Kilobot to make it look like Metabee is cheating. The footage of the fight is broadcast live, but due to the doctoring, it's delayed a minute. His plot is uncovered when Arika points out to everyone watching that the timestamp on the footage was one minute behind the "actual" time.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': In [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE25TheClockKing "The Clock King"]], before his StartOfDarkness, efficiency expert Temple Fugate has four watches.[[note]]Fugate has a chain pocketwatch, and a wristwatch, and in his office, he has a grandfather clock and another clock at his desk.[[/note]] Being as obsessed with time as he is, it's not that implausible that they have the same time.

Might be the result of ClockTampering. SuperTrope of TimeZonesDoNotExist (time of day is the same in multiple far-apart places when it should logically be zoned). SisterTrope of UniversalUniverseTime (the rest of the universe follows Earth's time system). Nothing to do with {{Mirror Routine}}s or FearfulSymmetry.

Might be the result of ClockTampering. Nothing to do with {{Mirror Routine}}s or FearfulSymmetry.

* ''Film/DieHard2'': {{Invoked}} as the bad guys carefully synchronize their watches before splitting up to put their EvilPlan into action.

* ''Manga/DetectiveSchoolQ'': A television broadcast of people evacuating an enormous department store due to a bomb threat shows that the time is fifteen minutes later than the clock on the wall in the room where people are watching the broadcast. The broadcast is [[spoiler:actually coming from a set--since the detectives don't have enough time to thoroughly search the department store before the bomb goes off, they choose instead to trick the already captured bomber into saying where he's hid it after he believes it's gone off.]]

'''Protagonist:''' This is ''not'' a good start.

* The increase in internet and cellular-connected devices is leading to most of them always showing the same (correct) time, as many of them periodically connect to, and adjust their own clocks by, atomic clocks that provide time accurate to less than a second. GPS devices also connect with the GPS satellites which each have an atomic clock on board (which is necessary for their function).

* Justified in ''Film/DieHard2'', where we see the bad guys carefully synchronize their watches before splitting up to put their EvilPlan into action.

* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': The 333 killer will time certain events to happen exactly at 3:33, and he can rest assured that's precisely the time Mac's clock will be showing.
* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': The Cyber Vid character gives the time of his victims' deaths and then broadcasts the murder over the internet. He lists the time of death as five minutes to midnight. Two clocks are shown when the victim dies, and they both show the precise time, despite the fact that the poison that kills him was administered hours ago. This is {{justified|Trope}} because both clocks are at the Naval Yard. Military bases take care of keeping their clocks in sync with a standard, especially when the time is very relevant to an ongoing investigation. And, because the killer mostly leaves the clue for Gibbs, he would have operated according to that time. The perfect timing of the poison is a completely different trope, of course.

* ''Manga/CaseClosed'': One arc takes place in a house with hundreds of clocks, all of which show the exact same time; because the owner of the house keeps a team of clock repairmen on call 24/7 to ensure that this is the case. One of her previous employees died because she made the man climb the outside of the clock tower to fix the clock there in the rain, causing him to fall. [[spoiler:This is why she gets murdered.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Medabots}}'': At one point in the anime, the villain doctors footage of a fight between Metabee and his Kilobot to make it look like Metabee is cheating. The footage of the fight is broadcast live, but due to the doctoring, it's delayed a minute. His plot is uncovered when Arika points out to everyone watching that the timestamp on the footage was one minute behind the "actual" time.

* {{Averted}} for the sake of a joke in the Italian comic ''Cuori Grassi''. The protagonist -- an overweight teenager -- tries to psych himself up for a diet and tells his friends to take note of the time because it'll go down in history.

* In the opening scene of the first ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'' film, Doc's house is full of hundreds of different alarm clocks that he has painstakingly synchronized to all go off [[spoiler: exactly 20 minutes late. Every single one of them]].
* Subverted in ''Film/AnimalHouse''. As the Alphas prepare their showdown, each looks at his watch, which are synchronized -- except for Bluto's, which shows some completely random time. Could be justified if (other than Bluto) they deliberately synched them ahead of time.

* Also justified in ''Film/HighNoon,'' since a train arrives in Hadleyville at noon on a routine basis, allowing all the clocks in town to be synchronized by a single point.

* A plot point in ''Literature/ThiefOfTime''; Clockmaker's Guild member Jeremy Clockson is able to keep every single clock in his shop synchronized almost perfectly, even ones that rely on animals or plants to operate. He's so obsessed with keeping perfect time that he beat another guild member (possibly to death) for [[BerserkButton deliberately keeping his pocket watch a few minutes fast]]. As it eventually turns out, his ability is due to [[spoiler: his being one of the two sons [[TimeyWimeyBall (yes, that is written correctly)]] of [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Time]] herself.]]

* ''Series/{{CSINY}}''. The 333 killer will time certain events to happen exactly at 3:33, and he can rest assured that's precisely the time Mac's clock will be showing.
* On an episode of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', the Cyber Vid Character gives the time of his victims' deaths and then broadcasts the murder over the internet. One example is particularly egregious. He lists the time of death as five minutes to midnight. Two clocks were shown when the victim died, and they both showed the precise time, despite the fact that the poison that killed him was administered hours ago. There's WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief and then there's this.
** While ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' is usually VERY guilty of this kind of stuff, that one actually worked. Both clocks were at the Naval Yard (military base). So it is highly likely the clocks there were actually kept in sync with a standard, especially when the time was very relevant to an ongoing investigation. And, because the killer mostly left the clue for Gibbs, he would have operated according to that time. The perfect timing of the poison is a completely different trope, of course.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'', all of the clocks in the game are synced to the InUniverseGameClock, and as such, all of them display the exact same time. This is, however, justified in-universe by the fact that the game is set in and around a place called ''Clock Town''. If there's anything you'd expect them to have down to a science, it would be timekeeping.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE25TheClockKing "The Clock King"]], before his StartOfDarkness, efficiency expert Temple Fugate has four watches.[[note]] Fugate has a chain pocketwatch, and a wristwatch, and in his office, he has a grandfather clock and another clock at his desk.[[/note]] Being as obsessed with time as he is, it's not that implausible that they have the same time.

* At one point in the ''VideoGame/{{Medabots}}'' anime, the villain doctors footage of a fight between Metabee and his Kilobot to make it look like Metabee was cheating. The footage of the fight was broadcast live, but due to the doctoring, it was delayed a minute. His plot was uncovered when Arika points out to everyone watching that the timestamp on the footage was one minute behind the "actual" time.
* One arc of ''Manga/CaseClosed'' took place in a house with hundreds of clocks, all of which showed the exact same time - because the owner of the house kept a team of clock repairmen on call 24/7 to ensure that this was the case. One of her previous employees died because she made the man climb the outside of the clock tower to fix the clock there in the rain, causing him to fall. [[spoiler:This is why she gets murdered.]]
* One episode of ''Manga/DetectiveSchoolQ'' had a deliberate aversion. A television broadcast of people evacuating an enormous department store due to a bomb threat showed the time being fifteen minutes later than the clock on the wall in the room where people were watching the broadcast. [[spoiler: The broadcast was actually coming from a set - since the detectives didn't have enough time to thoroughly search the department store before the bomb went off, they chose instead to trick the already captured bomber into saying where he hid it after he believed it had gone off.]]

In fiction, however, every clock and/or watch shows the exact same time of day. Always. Sometimes even ones [[ArtisticLicenseGeography in different time zones]]. All miserable cheapo wristwatches and all cell phones and street clocks run in harmonious synchrony with the precision of an atomic clock. Sometimes used for dramatic effect by highlighting the improbable, often significant timing of an event, or the fact that two remote, seemingly unrelated events happened at the same time. Normally fueled by ConservationOfDetail. Nothing to do with {{Mirror Routine}}s or FearfulSymmetry.

-->'''Friend #2:''' Mine says four-thirty.\\
-->'''Friend #3:''' Mine's stopped.\\
-->'''Protagonist:''' This is ''not'' a good start.

In fiction, however, every clock and/or watch shows the exact same time of day. Always. Sometimes even ones [[ArtisticLicenseGeography in different time zones]]. All miserable cheapo wrist watches and all cell phones and street clocks run in harmonious synchrony with the precision of an atomic clock. Sometimes used for dramatic effect by highlighting the improbable, often significant timing of an event, or the fact that two remote, seemingly unrelated events happened at the same time. Normally fueled by ConservationOfDetail. Nothing to do with {{Mirror Routine}}s or FearfulSymmetry.

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* At one point in the ''VideoGame/{{Medabots}}'' anime, the villain doctors footage of a fight between Metabee and his Kilobot to make it look like Metabee was cheating. The footage of the fight was broadcast live, but due to the doctoring it was delayed a minute. His plot was uncovered when Arika points out to everyone watching that the timestamp on the footage was one minute behind the "actual" time.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* {{Averted}} for the sake of a joke in the Italian comic ''Cuori Grassi''. The protagonist -- an overweight teenager -- tries to psych himself up for a diet, and tell his friends to take note of the time, because it'll go down in history.
-->'''Friend #1:''' My watch says it's five o'clock.
-->'''Friend #2:''' Mine says four-thirty.
-->'''Friend #3:''' Mine's stopped.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* A plot point in ''Literature/ThiefOfTime''; Clockmaker's Guild member Jeremy Clockson is able to keep every single clock in his shop synchronized almost perfectly, even ones that rely on animals or plants to operate. He's so obsessed with keeping perfect time that he beat another guild member (possibly to death) for [[BerserkButton deliberately keeping his pocket watch a few minutes fast]]. As it eventually turns out, his ability is due to [[spoiler: his being one of the two son [[TimeyWimeyBall (yes, that is written correctly)]] of [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Time]] herself.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE25TheClockKing "The Clock King"]], before his StartOfDarkness, efficiency expert Temple Fugate has four watches.[[note]] Fugate has a chain pocketwatch, and a wristwatch, and in his office he has a grandfather clock and another clock at his desk.[[/note]] Being as obsessed with time as he is, it's not that implausible that they have the same time.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The increase in internet and cellular connected devices is leading to most of them always showing the same (correct) time, as many of them periodically connect to, and adjust their own clocks by, atomic clocks that provide time accurate to less than a second. GPS devices also connect with the GPS satellites which each have an atomic clock on board (which is necessary for their function).
[[/folder]]

!!Examples

[[folder: Anime And Manga ]]

[[folder: Comics ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live-Action TV ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE25TheClockKing "The Clock King"]], before his StartOfDarkness, efficiency expert Temple Fugate has four watches.[[note]] Fugate has a chain pocketwatch, a wristwatch, and in his office he has a grandfather clock and another clock at his desk.[[/note]] Being as obsessed with time as he is, it's not that implausible that they have the same time.

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* In the opening scene of the first ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' film, Doc's house is full of hundreds of different alarm clocks that he has painstakingly synchronized to all go off [[spoiler: exactly 20 minutes late. Every single one of them]].

* One arc of ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' took place in a house with hundreds of clocks, all of which showed the exact same time - because the owner of the house kept a team of clock repairmen on call 24/7 to ensure that this was the case. One of her previous employees died because she made the man climb the outside of the clock tower to fix the clock there in the rain, causing him to fall. [[spoiler:This is why she gets murdered.]]

* Subverted in ''Film/AnimalHouse''. As the Alphas prepare their showdown, each looks at his watch, which are synchronized -- except for Bluto's, which shows some completely random time.

In fiction, however, every clock and/or watch shows the exact same time of day. Always. All miserable cheapo wrist watches and all cell phones and street clocks run in harmonious synchrony with the precision of an atomic clock. Sometimes used for dramatic effect by highlighting the improbable, often significant timing of an event, or the fact that two remote, seemingly unrelated events happened at the same time. Normally fueled by ConservationOfDetail. Nothing to do with {{Mirror Routine}}s or FearfulSymmetry.