Why is Apple Time Server wrong in Europe?

If the date or time is wrong on your Mac - Apple Support

There seem to be additional tips here.

https://www.macobserver.com/tips/quick-tip/how-to-fix-date-and-time-high-sierra-bug/

You can try From the Termianl.app copy and paste:

sudo ntpd -q

This typically will set time to Apple server

Please see - https://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Servers/RulesOfEngagement where it says -

As the load on the hosts supporting NTP primary (stratum 1) time service is heavy and always increasing, clients should avoid using the primary servers whenever possible. In most cases the accuracy of the NTP secondary (stratum 2) servers is only slightly degraded relative to the primary servers and, as a group, the secondary servers may be just as reliable.

Indeed. Unfortunately I have no idea why it would be that far off unless you have a firewall running or some other program blocking the port. I've never actually seen it happen on any of my Macs in 30+ years.

Did you try one of the alternative time servers mentioned?

If you really want to know ask the source: http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Main/ContactInformation

... which, in turn, synchronizes their Stratum 1 servers to the Stratum 0 servers at the US Naval Observatory, otherwise known as Tick and Tock. If one wishes to be a few microseconds off in time keeping, I suppose NIST is okay. ;-)

Look! A butterfly!

Ok... while it was fascinating to watch that straw man float on by, it did nothing to answer the specific question begged. Let me rephrase the question : If the system is being taxed, why allow any general access ?

Follow up question : why is the information being published in public at all ?

Clear enough? It rings more than a little hollow that the sole means of solving an access problem is to be begging pretty please to stop it while distributing the access information to the public.

FWIW, I use: time.nist.gov

I prefer to be a few microseconds off. Otherwise it seems too OCD.

As dialabrain says a few milliseconds difference is not an issue to normal people. :)

Indeed. 😎

Hi, Jonathan Ratty !

As an alternative you could use a much more stable, reliable source: The US Navy. They maintain a pair of atomic clocks which are ever-so-imaginatively named Tick and Tock. Replace your Apple time server information with:

tick.usno.navy.mil

tock.usno.navy.mil

Even over the internet to Europe it should be under a second in latency, so accurate enough for your needs.

I hope this helps you, and good luck !

Firstly the individual Mac does not constantly run a sync to the (in your case) time.europe.apple.com server. So your Mac may have drifted since the last sync. As leyroydouglas mentions you can force an update via a terminal command, you can also force an update by turning network time sync off and then back on in the System Preference option. Syncs would normally occur at boot/login, I am not sure how often after that if you don't logout or reboot it would occur.

With regards to which server to use -

Typically operators of Stratum 0 or Stratum 1 servers prefer 'ordinary' users not to sync via their servers. These core time servers are intended for say Stratum 2 servers to sync to and then users to sync to the Stratum 2 servers. This is because if 1 billion people (not an exaggeration) were to all try to sync to the handful of Stratum 0 and 1 servers they would clearly be overloaded.

As dialabrain says a few milliseconds difference is not an issue to normal people. :)

In larger organisations it is more typical for say their Windows Active Directory Server to sync to (likely) stratum 2 server and then when client computers (Mac or Windows) are 'bound' to Active Directory they are automatically configured to sync to the Active Directory Server. This ensures that internally the client computers and server are in reasonably close synchronisation and avoids hundreds or thousands of clients are not all directly bombarding the major time servers.

Apple's OpenDirectory is supposed to do something similar but is sadly not enterprise grade anymore. :(

It is supposed to be possible to 'advertise' a network time server on your local network via DHCP using option code 42 but I am dubious that macOS obeys this. See - http://www.networksorcery.com/enp/protocol/bootp/option042.htm

If this is truly the case, then perhaps you could explain to the viewing audience why organizations like the US Navy (who, arguably, administer the most accurate Stratum 0 server on the planet) publish that server information in public. Logic would seem to say, if you are accurate, this information would be on a tightly controlled access, need-to-know basis to provide - at the very least - a basic means of controlling traffic. One would think the Stratum 0 servers would be on an IP and MAC address lockdown if nothing else.

After all - the US government (see: US Army) doesn't publish a publicly accessible map of the interior of Fort Knox, right?