Yesterday, I shared my 5-year old son Caleb’s timeless question – “Dad, why does a minute have 60 seconds? Shouldn’t it have 100?”

Interestingly, yes it can and over 200 years ago, it briefly did.

In 1793, the French rolled out the French Revolutionary Time – 10-hour days, with 100 minutes per hour and 100 seconds per minute. 

The key benefit was that this clock kept the math simple with a metric calculation and an elegant solution.

The only thing the system overlooked was people, and the truth that old habits die hard.

While it is easy to think that noon is 5 in decimal time, the system proved unpopular because people were unfamiliar with switching systems of time.

Plus, replacing every clock and watch in the country was a spendy proposition.

The decimal system for time clocked out in just 17 months, and the newest innovation since french fries was not such a great one after all!