Set_rtc_mmss: when the hardware clock is out of synch with system clock

I saw following error message on the console

set_rtc_mmss: can't update from 59 to

When I ran

   [root@xxx]# hwclock -r;date

Thu 30 Oct 2008 05:22:47 AM EDT  -0.437804 seconds

Mon Aug 17 05:22:47 EDT 2009

It has the huge difference between system clock and H/W clock

I then ran 

  [root@xxx]# hwclock –systohc

And now the time difference is pretty low

[root@xxxx]# hwclock -r;date

Mon 17 Aug 2009 05:26:21 AM EDT  -0.026283 seconds

Mon Aug 17 05:26:20 EDT 2009