My Favorite Things About Electric Clocks
My Favorite Clock sites
Pappy's Telechron Page - a great resource for Telechron clock info
A great resource for information on Jefferson Electric clocks
Timesavers - A great source for clock parts
Sal Brisindi's page, which offers numerous nixie and numitron clock schematics and pictures
A page with lots of information about Heathkit clocks
For most of my life, I have been fascinated by clocks. Ever since I was a baby, I had an affinity for timepieces. Even the subject of time travel has had an allure to me (not too surprisingly, Back To The Future is one of my favorite movies of all time). I have been collecting clocks of all shapes and sizes most of my life, and have always liked having a large array of them set up at one time (much like Doc Brown's experiment as seen at the beginning of Back To The Future). In the past few years, my collection has focused largely on clocks which are powered and synchronized by the AC power line. Currently, I have around twenty-six line-powered clocks, twelve of which are mechanical-digital, six of which are mechanical-analog, and nine of which are LED/LCD/fluorescent-digital. I also own a Casio "Wave Ceptor" wristwatch which receives calibration signals from the WWVB station in Fort Collins, CO, and helps keep the clocks in close synchronization (though they tend to drift a few seconds ahead or behind WWV, due to a slight inaccuracy in the supplied line frequency).
Analog
My first electric analog clock was a Jefferson Electric "Golden Hour" clock (pictures and info available here) given to me by a neighbor. Golden Hour clocks were made for over 40 years, and are fairly easy to find nowadays. The Golden Hour is classified as a 'mystery clock', since there is no visible means of moving the hands, which are attached to a round piece of glass, and appear to float in midair. A motor in the base turns a gear attached to the glass, which rotates at 1/60 RPMs. The minute hand turns along with the glass, while the hour hand is further geared from the minute hand to make one rotation every 12 hours. This makes for an elegant timepiece, and one which is also functional. Apart from replacing the motor (still available today from Timesavers) and power cord, mine has required little maintenance. Due to the transparent face, it's neat to place objects behind it, which makes for an interesting effect. I used to place a tall 811A vacuum tube behind it, which looked pretty cool, especially with the bright filament of the 811A lit.
I also collect Telechron and General Electric electric clocks. Telechron was founded by Henry Warren, who invented the self-starting line-synchronous motor in the early 1900s. Before then, electric clocks were not very accurate, and needed to be started manually (usually through a 'spinner knob' which was attached to the motor). Telechron was later bought by General Electric, but clocks continued to be made under the Telechron name for many years afterwards, with some of them all-but-identical to their GE-branded counterparts. Among my small collection of Telechrons is a model 4F51, also known as the "Telart" (pictures and info available here), which I picked up at an antiques store for $12. It is a beautiful clock, and works perfectly. I also own a model 7H141, also known as the "Airlux" (pictures and info available here), which I picked up at a flea market for $10. It is a very common clock, and mine's in somewhat-shoddy shape (the plexiglass is crazed on the sides, and I had to repair the wiring at the coil), but it's still a nice clock. I also own a pair of wall-mount Telechrons, one of which is a white/ivory 2H07 "Buffet" (pictures and info available here), which I bought at a flea market for $30. Yet another classic deco design, these were produced for longer than just about any other Telechron clock, surviving into the '50s. Mine appears to be from the late '30s/early '40s, with a plastic backplate (as opposed to the masonite ones used later on), but with a short rubber cord rather than the long cloth type seen on earlier versions. The short cord, combined with a special recessed outlet, made the look more aesthetically pleasing, since there was no longer a visible wire hanging down from the bottom. It's a bit noisy, but otherwise runs fine. My other wall-mount Telechron is a white/ivory 2H25, also known as the "Stewardess" (pictures and info available here), which I bought at a flea market for $15. Like the Buffet, it has a deco-ish design to it, though not quite as stylish. Also like the Buffet, it's a bit noisy, but does run. I also have a number of Telechron and GE's basic "commercial clocks", which can still be found happily keeping time in schools and businesses decades after they were manufactured. One of the ones I have is a General Electric 1HA1612, which has a 12" dial. Mine has a chrome-style coating (which has seen far better days) on the outside ring; not sure if it's original or not, since the plastic in the uncoated areas seems to be brown.
Mechanical Digital
Most of my mechanical-digital clocks are of the "drop-leaf" type (the numbers are on small plastic cards, which flip down to the next minute; they are often referred to as 'flip clocks'). One of them is a Panasonic model RC-6551 clock radio (picture available here), from around 1971. It is quite elaborate, having a day/date calendar in addition to a time display (the day and date automatically update less than an hour after 12 midnight, though months less than 31 days in length have to be compensated for manually). When I acquired it, the motor didn't move at all. I used a series of oils to bring it back to life, after which it served for several months on my bedside table, until a tragic fall caused one of the digit leaves to break off from the mechanism. I have since acquired another Panasonic calendar clock radio, a similar RC-6493, which is awaiting restoration. I also have some flip clocks which don't have an alarm at all. One of them is a Hallmark-Ricoh model 3600, which I bought at a flea market for a buck. It practically screams "1970s" with it's funky day-glo orange plastic case, which has a trapezoidal shape to the front, and a rounded back. Possibly the coolest of my flip clocks is a Copal model 801, which has larger digits on it than any of my other flip clocks, around 3" tall. It is unique in that it can either sit on a desk (using a chromed metal stand, which seems to be missing on many of these), or be wall-mounted. At least some of these used several neon lamps to illuminate the digits, but mine never had them.
I also have some 'scroll clocks', the type with numbered reels which smoothly roll down to the next minute. I have a pair of '70s GEs (often referred to as "dice clocks", since the reels have several sides instead of being round), as well as a Numechron "Tymeter" from the '60s, which uses similar reels. I also have a Sankyo model 412, which uses round reels, and has a stylized rounded-front rectangular case. A subset of scroll clocks I've discovered recently is one which could be referred to as "slow-scroll", as exemplified in the Lux model 5010-01 I acquired. The minute ones reel does not remain stationary until the changeover time, like a standard scroll clock; rather, it is constantly moving at a very slow rate. As the minute ones reel starts the changeover from 9 to 0, the minute tens and/or hours reels start to transition by jumping forwards, increment by increment, until all the digits are centered in the display. Sometimes, the minute tens reel fails to complete this transition until several minutes have passed. I've been told that they aren't supposed to work in this manner, so something's likely not quite right with mine. Hopefully, I'll be able to figure out what's wrong with it someday. Quasi-similar is the Ropat "Talisman 15" alarm clock. It seems similar to the Lux, but unlike it (or any of my other mechanical-digital clocks), it's battery-operated (runs on a single D-cell battery), using a clockwork mechanism which triggers a small motor to advance the digits every minute. Also unlike my other scroll clocks, it keeps track of the day of the week. It didn't work when I got it, but after some lubrication of the clockwork mechanism, as well as some repairs to the alarm dial, it works fairly well.
Electronic Digital
Most of my LED clocks are fairly unremarkable, since the designs are static and boring. However, one model stands out from the rest: the Micronta model 63-814, from the '80s. In addition to the standard hours/minutes adjustments, by moving a switch, the seconds count is displayed instead, along with the ones digit of the current minute. When setting the time, the seconds count can either be reset to 00, or stopped where it is, for synchronizing with other clocks. I have owned three of them, all yard sale finds; one of them stopped displaying time correctly shortly after I bought it, but the other two are still working. In addition to these, I also own a Micronta 63-766. It has a 2" large display, and can be switched to display 12- or 24-hour time. In the early '90s, these clocks were relabeled and sold as "audio system enhancers" by various less-than-reputable companies, such as Tice Audio; I don't know if it has any effect on the sound from my stereo, but it keeps pretty good time. Similar to this one is the Micronta 63-805; it uses the same sort of 2" LED display (also switchable for 12/24 hours), but is meant to be wall-mounted (lacks an alarm function). Probably the oddest of all of these is the Hewlett-Packard model 59309A. Built by the same company that made test equipment (and computers), the HP 59309A (what a catchy name) was intended as a "real-time clock" reference for their HP Interface Bus (later known as GPIB) minicomputers. It has a display on the front, which uses the same sort of tiny 'bubble' digits most often seen in calculators of the time (such as the HP-35), and can display both time and date. It's likely that the display was put there almost as an afterthought; it's meant to be used briefly while setting the date and time, though someone replaced the momentary pushbutton display switch with an on/off toggle switch sometime before I got it. This allows the display to be read constantly, though the size of the digits means you have to be within a few feet to read it clearly.
In the clock radio department, I have a GE model 7-4870, which is somewhat unique in having a digitally-tuned radio section. It features a keypad, which allows you to tune stations in .2MHz increments, as well as to select and store four station presets (shared between AM and FM). I have seen other GE clock radios with similar functionality, including two models with direct access tuning using a numerical keypad (the 7-4880 and 7-4885), but all of them seem to have issues with flaky button contacts. Similar to this is a GE 7-4665A. While it doesn't have the digital tuning features of the 7-4870, it does have versatile time-setting controls, and a handy dimming knob for the fluorescent display, as well as a "power failure tone" (though it and the alarm buzzer don't seem to work like they should). I also have a Proton model RS-420 which, like the GE, offers digital tuning with presets and two alarms, but also has many other features, like variable alarm volume. It has a matching extension speaker (RS-421) which allows for stereo listening, but also adds remote controls for the radio, and a secondary snooze button (intended as a "his 'n' hers" setup, to go on opposite sides of the bed).
Homebrews
I attempted to build a simple MM5314-based six-digit LED clock in high school, but it has yet to work correctly. I did succeed in building a Velleman MK151 LED kit clock, which uses a specialized PIC chip. I also have two ongoing Numitron (RCA neon-filled seven-segment display, similar to a nixie tube) clock projects, both using Sal Brisindi designs. In addition to these, I have several homebrew-type clocks which were made by other people. One of them is similar to the first one I tried to build; it uses a MM5313 IC, which is similar to the MM5314. It has four yellow LED displays, and a nice metal case; it displays gibberish hours when first turned on, but once the time is advanced past those hours, it seems to work normally. Another one I have uses three nixie tubes, as well as a long neon lamp for the hours tens digit; unlike the aforementioned clocks, it's based on discrete TTL logic chips rather than a "clock-in-a-chip" like the MM53xx series. It appears to have been scavenged for it's transformer, which is a shame since it would be interesting to see it in action. I also have one which was sold as a kit by a company called "B&F Enterprises" in the early 1970s. Like the aforementioned nixie clock, this one also uses TTL logic chips, but has a full six nixie tube display (with buttons to set hours, minutes and seconds, interestingly enough). The front of the case simply identifies it as a "Digital Clock", though the board sports a model number of "Z1000". At the moment, this particular clock doesn't work; something is causing the fuse to blow, and I'm hoping it's something simple like shorted electrolytic capacitors, but who knows.
I also have several Heathkit clocks, all from the mid '70s. One is an ID-1490, which is a combination clock/dual thermometer using several pairs of Panaplex gas-discharge display modules. The clock portion of this unit works, but there's some issues with the thermometer section. I also own a model GC-1094, which is basically the alarm clock section of the ID-1490, using the same Panaplex modules. The display has a flickering problem, which may be due to the Panaplex modules being old, or drifted parts in the multiplexer. Similarly, I have a GC-1092A, which was the 'deluxe' version of the GC-1094. The GC-1092A has a touch-activated snooze button, a dimming feature, battery backup (can't figure out how the batteries are supposed to be installed), and an odd trapezoidal case. While one of the Panaplex digits has issues, the rest of the display is flicker-free, and it keeps good time. In addition to these, I also have a model GC-1107, which is similar to the GC-1094, but uses a more conventional fluorescent display (like the GC-1094, it's been wired to display time in a 24-hour format). Like the clock portion of the ID-1490, this unit works fine. One unit which stands out among these is the GC-1093. It uses Panaplex displays like most of my other Heathkit clocks, but was meant to be installed in a car, and runs on 12V. It not only keeps normal time, but can be set to keep track of elapsed time during a trip or somesuch. I haven't done much testing yet, but it seems to work fine thus far.
In a class by itself is the HyperClock, designed as a kit by a small company called "Skitronix" in the early '90s. Comprised of a octagonal printed circuit board (which has been mounted in a plexiglass-fronted homebuilt wooden case), it sports three pairs of seven-segment LED displays, 60 LEDs arranged in a circle (which can be set to display either seconds elapsed, or low/high tide) around the perimeter of the board, and four more LEDs around the seven-segment display array. The HyperClock is extremely versatile, offering two different time display modes: a standard hour/minute display (pictured here displaying 2:56:35AM), or an alternate mode which shows how many minutes have either elapsed since the hour began, or how many are left until the next hour begins, whichever number is lower (pictured here displaying 2:58:01AM). It also offers two different display change modes (normal mode, or a "flowing" mode which gives the effect of one increment fading into another). In addition, it sports a month/date calendar, an alarm mode with snooze function, battery backup, and even an hourly chime. As you can probably tell from the description above, operation of the HyperClock is rather complicated; setting the time and selecting the various displays/modes involves the use of seven mini pushbuttons mounted to the back of the circuit board, none of which are marked. I was able to determine which button did what through sheer trial-and-error, and even so, I still can't be sure that I've figured out everything that it can do. Since I wrote this, someone kindly supplied me with a manual for it, as well as a copy of the original Popular Electronics article it appeared in (if you would like a copy of these, email me using the address at the bottom of the page).
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