Meaning a person of high rank or distinction is attested from c.1500 in English; as a longer way to say person, the word was in use from 1550s (but often slyly ironical, with suggestion that the subject is overly self-important).
If your system is standalone, the default sync interval for system time is 604800 seconds (7 days). If you are in a domain environment, the default sync interval is 3600 seconds (0.04166667 days). If you are using XP Pro, you can adjust your settings using Group Policy editor (GPedit - Administrative Templates\System\Windows Time Service\Time Providers) or you can adjust things through a registry edit (works for any version of XP).
From a Simplex catalog: Synchronous Wired Correction Protocol for Simplexâ¢ 2310-9200 & 6310-9200 Series. 120vac or 24vac is used to operate the clocks normally. Applying an eight second command signal on the corrective line from 57 minutes, 54 seconds to 58 minutes, 02 seconds will cause an hourly correction.