Universal time — the same @beat for everyone, everywhere.
In a world of millisecond-precision chaos, we chose beautiful simplicity. One day, 1000 beats. No timezones. No AM/PM. No 'whose time is it?'
Put @beat to work
Timestamp files & photos
One @beat, one hash — a public certificate anyone can read and verify by QR.
Meet at @523
One number everyone reads the same — no timezone math.
One global drop
Release music, posts or livestreams in a single @beat — your whole audience at once.
Convert
How it works
1000 beats a day
The day is split into 1000 .beats — 1 beat = 86.4 seconds. Midnight UTC is @000, noon is @500.
No timezones
@523 means @523 for everyone on Earth. No conversions, no '2pm your time or mine?'.
Anchored to UTC
BeatTime is a clean transformation of UTC — our servers stay tightly synced, so the beat you read is the beat that is real.
Open API
Read the current beat, convert any instant, or sync your own clock. See the docs →
Proof of existence
Timestamp any file with @beat — free, public, verifiable. See proof →
Where @beat comes from
BeatTime is a modern take on Swatch Internet Time — the 1998 idea (with MIT Media Lab's Nicolas Negroponte) that split the day into 1000 .beats for one global time, with no timezones. We kept the elegance and fixed the catch: BeatTime is anchored to UTC (not Biel Mean Time, UTC+1), open, and free, with a public API.
In a world of millisecond-precision chaos, we chose beautiful simplicity. @523 — no timezones, no confusion.
Swatch is a trademark of its owner. BeatTime is an independent project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Swatch.
FAQ
What is BeatTime?
BeatTime is a universal time format that splits the day into 1000 .beats (1 beat = 86.4 seconds), anchored to UTC. @523 is the same moment for everyone on Earth — no timezones.
How do I read .beat time?
Time runs from @000 (midnight UTC) to @999. Noon UTC is @500. Optional centibeats add two decimals, e.g. @523.45.
Is BeatTime the same as Swatch Internet Time?
It is built on the same 1998 idea (1000 beats a day), but anchored to UTC instead of Biel Mean Time (UTC+1), and it is open with a free public API.
Does BeatTime use timezones?
No. @beat is one number for the whole planet, so there is no whose-time-is-it confusion for remote teams.
Is there a free API?
Yes — a public, read-only REST API to get the current beat, convert any instant, or sync your clock. See the developer docs at beattime.live/docs.
Is there an app?
Yes — an Android home-screen widget with multiple watch faces and a built-in time-to-beat converter. It works offline.