in Saudi Arabia also. A few weeks back several of us noticed the clock on our cell phones were about 25 minutes backward (all of us had automatic time update engaged).
By next day it was OK.

time zero

This reminds me of the spontaneous fires that were breaking out in Caronia, Italy in early 2004. My first thought is that to have an area affect on all those clocks, both battery and mains operated, this could be some form of field or wave that is hitting/saturating or being directed to hit the area with some low frequency EM charge that could mess around with the electronics, although if this was the case, I would also expect other electronic equipment to experience interference or some similar problems. Whatever the cause, symbolically speaking the disruption to or breaking down of time and clocks is curious what with time being just another illusion. Could it be a sign the illusion of linear time is being disrupted and beginning break down?

Atomic Chain Reaction!

That's funny.

Perhaps it's a black hole hehe, or change in gravity/time.

Now I wouldn't imagine it effected all clocks. After all, most have an AC transformer in them, and convert to DC internally don't they? A slight 1HZ difference I wouldn't imagine would effect the average DC rectifier's capacitors that much surely?

At the heart of the clock there is a piece that can generate an accurate 60-hertz (Hz, oscillations per second) signal. There are two ways to generate this signal:

1. The signal can be extracted from the 60-Hz oscillations in a normal power line. Many clocks that get their power from a wall socket use this technique because it is cheap and easy. The 60-Hz signal on the power line is reasonably accurate for this purpose.

2. The signal can be generated using a crystal oscillator. Obviously, any battery-operated clock or wristwatch will use this technique instead. It takes more parts, but is generally much more accurate.

Given a worst-case scenario, i.e. line frequency changes from 49 to 50.13 Hz, in a 24 hour period, a clock triggered by the frequency of the line AC would gain as much as 33 minutes.This does not, however, explain a battery-powered clock losing time. If it is a single isolated incident as reported by one person, it could easily be an error, though.

Using the network of power generators based in Sicily means utilizing 'alternative energy' such as wind or photovoltaic/sun power. Last week the Italians said 'No' at nuclear energy (once again) with a National Referendum. Just curious that they're blaming alternative energies right now, even as an option...

people might notice they got on the train just in time, they almost missed it, and traveling few hours then getting off at their destination with a surprise they might notice everywhere clocks show the time half-an hour before they boarded the train.

I'm in Croatia and I have noticed that my digital clock shifted backwards 45 - 60 min between 1 - 6 AM a couple of days ago.
Also, a day or two before that, I think (but I'm not 100% sure) there was a delay of cca 5 min.

[Link]The last sentence of this paragraph is interesting.

'The piezoelectric effect is understood as the linear electromechanical interaction between the mechanical and the electrical state in crystalline materials with no inversion symmetry.[3] The piezoelectric effect is a reversible process in that materials exhibiting the direct piezoelectric effect (the internal generation of electrical charge resulting from an applied mechanical force) also exhibit the reverse piezoelectric effect (the internal generation of a mechanical force resulting from an applied electrical field). For example, lead zirconate titanate crystals will generate measurable piezoelectricity when their static structure is deformed by about 0.1% of the original dimension. Conversely, those same crystals will change about 0.1% of their static dimension when an external electric field is applied to the material.'

So could an electrical field be deforming the quartz crystals locally & affecting the timing of the clocks?
But we can't rule out that some clocks might be using cheaper ceramic resonators instead of quartz crystal, who knows if these were affected without knowing the schematic circuity?

Battery powered watches, clocks or appliances are bothered by EM impulses as well. Not a paranormal activity here.Just a want or a need.

A beamed EM signal strong enough and of the right resonant frequency might be able to add an extra pulse to the counting mechanism in a clock.

If one thinks of the power cables strung across the landscape as a giant antenna array, it is plausible that EM beams could be picked up and transmitted along them in conjunction with the regular power. They might be strong enough to affect a clock's internal systems.

Battery operated clocks gaining time, though. . ? Well. . , if electronics can be made to catch fire from beamed energy, as was described as happening in Caronia, then it seems possible that a signal might be strong enough to be picked up by the circuitry inside even a battery clock. —If at some point in its electronics, it is counting in the same pulse frequency range as that of a clock pulling its timing from the power grid. Seems likely, as divisions of 60 are required for clocks. . .

can they use the power grid of poles and wires as a harrp antena ?

about 30 clocks in the house (wrist warches, plug-in and so on and so forth...). I'd say that wytebear's and woodsman's explanations are closer to the truth as possible. Usually it's the frequency range of the electric current driving the electronic circuitry that keeps time stable. Since voltage from socket powered watches varies, a minute accuracy is probably the best result they can come near to. Hand held watches tend to be more accurate to the second. From then on things get really dizzy. The most accurate watches we can see so far are in Formula one racing where timing is measured to 1/1000 of a second !!!. Keep in mind that time is the fourth dimension a product of how fast particles move in the other 3 (x,y,z,) and therefore relative.
In -271 degrees Celcious time stops everything stops moving. The basic of cryonics. So time is relative , thus my nick. Also electronic circuitry is affected by high voltage lines. As for battery powered ones depends on the mechanism (analog-digital) and the condition and the chemical elements of the batterry. Usually digital wrist watches powered by digital batteries (fresh ones) are the more accurate consumer watches we have. However batteries have a problem (especially cylindrical conventional ones : they are "powered down" by cold, even car batteries have the same problem that's why in Alaska they use 24 volt power ones instead of the usual 12 volt in regular cars). Like wytebear said it's at least annoying to synchronize clocks. That's why I curse twice every year when we have to change the time. Finally atomic watches are the most accurate in the world, to tell you the truth I don't know exactly how they work. So far we have enough accuracy to transport info , but in order to transport 3d objects we need to develop quantum mechanics that require zero errors and absolute accuracy otherwise the objects transported will disintegrate (i.e. "The Philadelphia experiment"). Quantum mechanics is the basis for abductions by aliens and I'm not kidding you. I think I've been as thorough as I could. Thanks for reading.