I AM THE GREAT CORNHOLIO! I know, +++Top seller, super fast delivery. Thank you+++ LOL. The US shipping lable was from about 18 months after I'd ordered it to so what the hell kind of eBay would you call that XD Techmoan should hold on to some hope for his alarm clock arriving sometime before 2020.
If you want the ultimate in accuracy just take the batteries out of your clock (providing it's analogue!). Instead of maybe being within a few milliseconds of the atomic clock throughout it's battery life, it will in fact be EXACTLY right... Twice per day...
@@TomVycital He literally said "(providing it's analogue!)". Analogue clocks do not have am and pm indicators, at least not usually, as someone who has quite a few of them and also collects pocket watches.
The primary issue I see with the open flip clocks is the accumulation of dust. It won't be easy to dust them, so perhaps a bell jar over the top of them might help.
I own the one with the big digits, and I recommend it highly. Mine has gained 30 seconds in about six months, so I can't complain too much. There's a low, quiet hum all the time that's pretty easy to ignore, but otherwise, it's great!
I reckon the chinglish in those first instructions means to set the time one minute ahead of what it is, so that manufacturing tolerances in the gear backlash then take that minute out.
It does mean that. I have one similar to the one in the middle. When you set it you have to set it one minute ahead and then it takes two minutes until it flips over to the next minute. So if I was setting the clock to 5:10. I would set it to 5:11 when my phone hits 5:10 and then two minutes later at 5:12 it will flip over and be correct. So then both will show 5:12.
Just clocked this terrible joke . On the face of it a bad pun , it took me a second but i got to hand it too you , one to watch . #timepiecereferences .
I saw this video about 2 years ago and decided to get the large one as shown in this video. It has been brilliant, it has kept perfect time for 2 years and not needed any adjustment. But I have had 2 digits fall off (one of the 2x tabs the digit rotates on broke) but these were easily repaired with super glue and a pin. Highly recommended.
It's weird, i haven't touched or set a flip clock in maybe 20 years, but the moment you started turning the wheel on the second clock, i had a very tactile memory of how it felt to spin those things.
Techmoan, admittedly I wasn't expecting to get much out of this video about flipping clocks, but again you continue to exceed expectations. Thanks for the information. I think I may be hooked on the postscript puppet performance. Cheers from Texas.
Good afternoon. First tell you that I love your channel, it's sensational, congratulations !. After commenting that I have exactly that clock (the biggest) and is very nice but makes a very sharp noise at night, you can hear the mechanism very strongly.
I have a flip clock from around 1975 and one with a rolling mechanism from the 80s, both Japanese, they both keep time perfectly. Also have a strange mechanical 7 segment display clock (the “lumitime” clock), gears were gunked up a bit but I freed them up and its kept time well since
I can vouch for the one in the middle keeping good time as we have one. May just be lucky but it's lost about a minute in a year. And that's easy enough to fix just by flicking it a two minutes forwards (As when you adjust it, it takes two minutes for the first minute to flip over). However, the minutes do not drop exactly a minute apart I may add. That's why the cheapest one was seemingly faster. Due to tolerances and whatnot minute 57 may last 67 seconds whereas minute 7 may last 53. It all averages out though.
Still waiting for a giant airport flipboard to show up for cheap somewhere... That will be my new kitchen memoboard :D What's that dear? Pick up milk after work ? RATATATATATATATTATATATATA XD Btw if you want a reliable source of time do not get the cheap ones, even with fresh batteries they will run slow !
Ooooh, app connected from the internet! Send each other into a swoon with messages from "out there" at unexpected times! Ah yes, what every passive aggressive couple needs. Lol.
Awww, hell, that's actually a pretty damn neat idea. Shame I couldn't even find one from a railway station. Although those can't just write anything your heart desires. But still, that flipboard sound, I miss that.
I recently got a Panasonic RC-6030 on eBay for $40. It's a great clock and seems pretty accurate, especially being from 1971. It's the wood version of the one from Groundhog Day.
I just wanted to say thank you for the video. I've always loved this style of clock and keep my eyes open for them when at thrift stores, but rarely find a working one. Well, I just received mine today (the cheapest one), and it fits in great in my retro themed gaming room. Awesome!
I'd be interested on your take on those fancy simulated sunlight alarms that are supposed to make waking up in the morning alot easier. Would be interesting to see a budget one compared to one of the mad high end ones
I got that largest clock as a present about a year ago. i really love the way it looks. It took a short while to get used to the sound of it flipping as I kept it in my bedroom, but I don't even notice it anymore.
Mechanical digital clocks are so cool, and there's a whole world out there of unique and interesting designs and mechanisms. I've got a 1970s Strauss flip clock at my desk and it keeps perfect time; if the power didn't go out for a year, it would still be accurate down to the second... and I only paid a couple bucks for it! Finding vintage ones isn't that easy anymore and if you're lucky to find one, it's likely to be broken, so it's nice that they make new ones again. That 6 digit model demonstrates why this particular type of mechanism didn't display seconds on vintage units... usually they had a spinning wheel that displayed a spiral pattern or something similar, just to show that the clock is running.
At 3:58 you can see some brown coloured residue on the 'seconds' wheel, this is on the number 44 flap so probably explains why some flaps get stuck together when it comes round to 42 seconds each minute
I finally got around to getting the cheaper flip clock thats in the white case and i really love it! Me and my gf were looking for a clock we could put next to our tv, and we didn't want something with a big face or made with led's or anything too bright to distract us from gaming, and this clock was perfect since it has no backlighting! The ticking & flipping is very soft and not noticeable at all while gaming or watching stuff.
they do, but its more like "hey we need some one who speaks english" "i speak english" "oh yeah well say something" "ok, (says random nonsense), i am speak english." "hmm i dont speak english, but sounds good to me" "cool, now when do i get payed?"
You could always buy a old flip clock, there are heap tons of the fuckers. I bought a 70s GE flip clock a few years ago for like 20 bucks...and never had any problem with it. Cool Dashie photo btw... :P
My Seiko flip clock is still going strong.It's from 1976, is powered by 1 x D cell battery which hardly requires changing & has never ever stopped working :)
Best flip clocks you can buy on the cheap are broken vintage ones. They're very precise, come in a wild array of styles, and can be purchased broken. Most of the time, all it needs is a light oiling of the motor assembly. Some Sony Digimatics (and others) have accurate "rolling second indicators", which is just a synchronized rolling ring with the seconds printed onto the side. That way, you can see the seconds, it's accurate, and it isn't too distracting.
Yes, It's very important to making up tooling short accuracy, also you must remember to adjust forward clock change the button for order to well keep time accuracy.
Follow all your videos with interest. You convinced me to purchase the flip-clock you liked, and purchased via ebay, and I am very happy with it. The unexpected astonishing thing is that I after about two months since I received it, it is still keeping exact time! Amazing considering that it is not quartz but mechanical.
I have a flip clock I picked up about 15 years ago that proudly sits above my TV. It loses about 5 minutes over the course of 6 months, which is how long the batteries last. This reminds me, do you remember the ball clocks of the 70s? Ball bearings would course through a maze until coming to a stop at the hour and minute.
Original flip clocks are driven by 220 volt 50 hz syncro motors in a way to be precise as the power supply frequency is. 50 hz frequency can slightly oscillate but is kept in long term in sync by an atomic clock across europe
I had picked up one of the 6-digit ones a while back and I think part of the problem with the seconds is that it doesn't have the tab hanging down from the bar to hold back the digits like the hours and minutes have. I think if you added a tab it would be more consistent, but never actually tested it. Of course the main problem is it's meant to be a modular design so they can use the same parts for the 4 digit version that never showed up
I found flip clock in the trash/ rubbish the other day. It works fine all I do is work is the radio. So I cleaned it up and use right now my study. And I always wanted to a flip clock back to the future movie and the groundhog movie that's why I always wanted one. It is a General Electric flip clock. I put my digital alarm clock next to it. And so behind by a couple seconds. I had for a few years now. And it's reliable. It also has a light tell what time it is. That's neat.
This is A Great Video. When i was younger my parents had a Panasonic flip clock radio with a faux wood grain finish. It also had an amber glow light when the lights turned off. These clocks bring great memories of my home as a young man. Great ending with your puppets. They always make me laugh. I agree, whats with the comments of "First" on You tube videos anyway. Cheers!
I have the white clock, would definitely recommend, had it for almost a year now and never went out of sync! the clicking sounds might disturb some people at sleeping though, but I got used to it :)
The only way would be constantly syncing it to an ntp server. Computer boards aren't particularly great at keeping time on their own. If I were to fix one of these for accuracy, I'd dismount the movement off the mechanism, attach a temporary seconds hand, then measure the deviation per day. I'd then add a cap parallel to the crystal to slow it down as needed. They are usually too fast. If it was going too slow, I would add a series capacitor with the crystal.
YensR That's an overkill. The clock already includes a quartz crystal circuit. There is usually a constant deviation as a "defect," but it is very stable age-wise. Fixing the deviation with caps to the crystal is a cheap and long-lasting fix you'll be hard-pressed to beat with any solution.
zwz • zdenek I am talking about building your own clock, you talk about modifying an existing one. Both legitimate avenues, but different - so calling it overkill misses the point I think. After all, if a 5 quid RTC module is overkill, then what is syncing to an NTP server ;)
This time i think, i´m really golden, as i always wanted these flip clocks even entirely through that days where was all and way outdated... I was given some nice "Krupps" clocks where some also has a day count, of course you need to set it every short month. But the best of all, i got an all and complete 24hour flip clock with full date and weekday from our local bank branch which was closed down some 30 years ago. I came back from school that day and saw some people moving out the furniture, i walked in and asked if i could have that clock, they simply said: shure, we would have tossed that thing right away in the dump anyway in a minute....:-D
I bought one of the large flip clocks, and I love it. It's accurate "enough"... but it scares the cats at the half hour and the hour when both flips snap forward.
The instructions that you didn't understand said to set the minute one ahead of the desired time. That's why your seconds clock was one minute behind every time you set it.
I love flip clocks since they appeared in the sixties. But they must be real ones from the seventies. Yours are poor imitations. Real ones MUST have a synchronous motor with 50Hz. and then they are as precise as atomic clocks since they are controlled by the grid frequency. There's always a play in the mechanism, so you can't set them at 5:00 when it's 5:00 but maybe at 5:02! The trick is to advance them and wait until they actually flip, then cut the power (or take out batteries), wait until it's actually let's say 5:02 and the immediately put on power. I have a radio alarm clock from 1975 that is working without any interruption since 41 years. Brand is Hosiden. Even the bulb is still good. There was a famous Japanese brand that I've forgotten now which is searched among collectors. Hope I will remember it. It is very stupid to add seconds since the mechanism will wear out quickly. Changing sixty times more than the minutes, their live span will be sixty times less. I also love the older version with turning drums. You even see them in Humphrey Bogart movies from the 40s. Then they' are American, brand being.....Technotime? Must see, I have a alarm clock, not with drums but with normal hands, but in Bakelite and synchro driven and with a inbuild plug to turn on an lamp for example at a desired time. Is from the 40s (70+ years old) precise on the second!
Wow Juri Vlk, nice clocks you have. That's amazing that Hosiden is still working after 41 years! I occasionally see an old GE flip clock at the thrift stores here in the US, but they always look in rough shape - plastic is yellowed from age or cigarette smoke, or the display is badly scratched. Watching this video and your comment, has renewed my interest in them so I will have to look more carefully at the selection each time I go to the thrifts now!
+johnnykache1000 Hi, the white plastic gets yellow with time, which is a pitty. You can leave it as it is or try to renew it. There is a method someone is explaining on TH-cam. My Hosiden Radio Alarm Clock is wood-colored plastic. The big flip clocks normally come from offices and are still made today, but are expensive, about $ 400$! Sometimes you'll find one when they're transforming a building. The best colours are the cadmium-red (orange) ones, a typically intense orange from the 70s which doesn't exist anymore today because of its cadmium component (cadmium is a heavy metal like lead and toxic). But in the US you should find the old ones with drums, made by the brand Telechron, which I love, since they are seventy years old and more precise than any quartz clock of today! Sometimes, the synchronous motor gets stuck, which is a mess. It's only a problem of oil, but in general it is dificult to open the case of the motor. Be carefull not to work on it when it's plugged in since it's 240 V, in the US 120V! The new flip clocks are fakes since there never existed quartz flip clocks in the 60s/70s! They are like a Cadillac Eldorado 1959 with a Diesel engine. I've bought the same one like in the video, the square one which is the cheapest new for very cheap. Looked great in orange (not cadmium orange but still nice), but lacked precision and was in fact a little noisy. But anyway, hope you will soon find one! Scratches in the plastic glass are no problem since you can polish them out. You must apply the right technique, or you will melt the "glass". Never stay too long on the same place with the polishing machine since the plastic will get hot after 2 seconds or so and melt. You can use a polishing machine like for polishing cars and fix the machine somehow. Then apply a good polish (like for polishing very old car paint) and then wobble your object in the rotating lambswool pad. A wish You a lot of fun!
The grid frequency isn't 50Hz precisely. It actually varies, and the (small) variation is used to signal load/demand (if the frequency falls, more generation is brought on-line) www2.nationalgrid.com/uk/services/balancing-services/frequency-response/
Thanks, it's always good to hear the answer of an expert! Didn't know all the details. In real life, the sychronous clocks are running quite well, more precisely than their battery-powered brothers. I love them!
Aled, I though I remembered reading that it's all tweaked to make sure there are a number of cycles to bring it out to average at 50Hz over the long term though. Although I don't know the provenance of that info.
Got the cheapest plastic box flip clocks, just like in the video, but in black colour. Ended up with hour flip freezed at 4 pm (can't move it even with button pressing), while minutes still keep running. Thanks for the video!
I bought that cheap white one a few months back (from Germany): don't find it as noisey in general use but do have hrs:mins syncing issues and noisy when it does finally flip over (whole unit shakes). They are pretty from an engineers/retro view point, but that's about it. Great vid.
I bought the cheap one due to your video, for a bit of fun, at the time of the video, and it worked fine until a week ago and the hour mechanism is sometimes not flipping, with a loud click/bang. Maybe budget flip clocks aren't the way to go in the long run :-)
I had the cheapest flip clock when I was a teen. It made two sets of batteries explode inside the clock and that's when I decided to throw it away. It could work again after cleaning the contacts for the batteries but I didn't think it was worth using if it meant that I'd have to repair it every time I put in fresh batteries. It was about $15 so I'm glad it didn't break the bank.
im sure some one said this but you have to move it one minute ahed if your trying to synce them so if clock a is at 5 35 then you need to flip clock b to 5 36 so they will both sync at 5 37
Thanks so much for this vid! After the timer I was scouring the net for my own flip clock and there are TONS of CHEAP ones and I figured they would be terrible time keepers given the low low cost. Lee Valley sells an accurate one with calender but its very pricy. I am going to get the large one for fun.
I've had a very similar model to the cheapest one in my kitchen for more than a year now. Same batteries, albeit very good batteries, but the time is still set correctly, maybe off by a minute or so.
Go retro similar, but not quite flip. Obtain a mechanical digital clock from the 40s-50s. Continuous rotating seconds wheel synchronized to the minutes and hours which are also wheels rather than flip digits (really actually wheels of a sort). Only hitch is that they use 120V 60Hz synchronous motors. (Also applies to your timer clock?) So you must find one meant for 220/50Hz or it will be a PITA for you to really use. Unless you come up with a 120V 60Hz BIG supply for all the retro US equipment you use regularly. I also see a new TV series developing for you as we all anxiously await new family members and plot development with your muppet characters.
i have the large flip clock, have had it a couple years now. It is a great clock! The only issue is it runs slightly fast. Slowly it will get faster and faster before I change it. Currently at 10 minutes fast!
I actually bought the four-digit version of the second clock in the video about a year ago. I quite like it and it kept decent enough time for a desk clock and was easy to read when I got out of bed. Unfortunately the minute panel that has the little wing broke off recently, which messes with the way the hour switch over works so that the initial couple minute panels get messed up. Thankfully the mechanism still keeps decent time.
Definitely one of my favorite channels. Was thinking of getting a flip clock last week after watching a bunch of the retro vids, and lo and behold, now there's a vid for flip clocks. Doesn't sound like these new clocks are as good as the old Emerson AM/FM/alarm flip clock I had as a kid though!
I think I like the cheapest one the best as it would be nice for the table in my bedroom next too my bed as if it ever got knocked off I would not be as worry about it breaking, as it looks more durable.
I would say it does count seconds, it is just that the minute drop is not consistent enough. So it is really that it doesn't count minutes properly. I also see that the other clocks don't have such a connection between the minute and hour, do they change right on the hour? That wasn't in the video.
Batteries last six months.......these new flip clocks are power hungry then. My bedside clock is an old Japanese Seiko flip-clock and runs on ONE D-cell battery and it's had the same battery for over a year now and still keeps excellent time.
save your money, get "fliqlo" flip clock for your computer, it's a free screensaver, works with all versions of windows since vista, including windows 10
I bought the cheap one about a year ago, before seeing this video. I always fancied a clock like the on in LOST (alas ThinkGeek's April Fool version never made it to reality) so the intent was to install this one in a custom case and possibly modify the minute digits to be white-on-black and more closely resemble the one from the show. As with many of my projects none of that happened, but the clock itself is surprisingly nice. A pair of decent rechargeable batteries lasted about 11 months (changed them a couple of weeks ago and I don't recall changing them previously) and it had only gained about 15 seconds in that time. Certainly accurate enough to use as a quick glance clock, although I'm guessing limited QA means there'll be a lot of variation in accuracy and I may have just got lucky. In my home office with computers and/or ceiling fan running, I don't notice the ticking or even the "flap" of the changing digits most of the time. I'm not sure I'd want it as a bedroom clock though.
I got my flip clock for $1 at Goodwill USA. The radio doesn't work alarm doesn't work. But it keeps good time. I use it as a desk clock in my office. Tyler Melton H&M Ps always want a flip clock because the movie Back to the Future.
Bought the big one about 2 years ago, also thinking it'd be a lot smaller LOL! Uses a battery a year approx. and is actually super accurate. Great conversation point.
This was very helpful, I've been eyeing a couple of these on Ebay myself.
love me daddy nukem
10:20 AIMING FOR 1.000.000 BLOCKS AN HOUR
So if you're friends with Techmoan you're probably getting a flip clock for Christmas
googleboughtmee Lol
Someone will be getting the mid priced one from me!
googleboughtmee i got the white flip clock on christmas
I won't be complaining, that's for sure
So... a flipped clock?
I had a USB card reader delivered from the USA about a month ago after placing the order in 2012.
Now thats fast service! -_-
I AM THE GREAT CORNHOLIO!
I know, +++Top seller, super fast delivery. Thank you+++ LOL. The US shipping lable was from about 18 months after I'd ordered it to so what the hell kind of eBay would you call that XD Techmoan should hold on to some hope for his alarm clock arriving sometime before 2020.
They've probably import it to the US before shipping it directly to you. Was it from California or something?
Sounds more like someone found it in under a conveyor belt after a few months and just tossed it back on it's way.
jordanzish More like a few years...
A man with one clock always knows exactly what time it is, a man with many clocks never knows
- old Chinese proverb
If you want the ultimate in accuracy just take the batteries out of your clock (providing it's analogue!). Instead of maybe being within a few milliseconds of the atomic clock throughout it's battery life, it will in fact be EXACTLY right... Twice per day...
A man with his own NTP clock does.
@@TomVycital He literally said "(providing it's analogue!)". Analogue clocks do not have am and pm indicators, at least not usually, as someone who has quite a few of them and also collects pocket watches.
Man with hole in pocket feel cocky all day
The manual of the 6 digit one says about the "seconds"; decorative flips (no for time) you can see it at 3:02
That's just bullshit. A clock is the one thing you'd want to be accurate, dammit!
eagle eyes... wouldn't have noticed that (nor did Techmoan)
Were recommended by TH-cam to watch this again after watching Technology Connections on flip clocks.
We are
The primary issue I see with the open flip clocks is the accumulation of dust. It won't be easy to dust them, so perhaps a bell jar over the top of them might help.
air duster
Would the constantly moving nature of the digits not prevent dust from collecting on them?
no, haven't you seen a computer fan, lots of dust on the fan blades
+Brent Allen Laminar flow fluid and gas has a velocity of zero at the boundary layer. Car washes owe a good part of their business to this effect.
Speaking of computer fans maybe some air duster would solve the problem?
HOLY SHIT I AM ACTUALLY WATCHING TWO CLOCKS RACING EACH OTHER
I own the one with the big digits, and I recommend it highly. Mine has gained 30 seconds in about six months, so I can't complain too much. There's a low, quiet hum all the time that's pretty easy to ignore, but otherwise, it's great!
I reckon the chinglish in those first instructions means to set the time one minute ahead of what it is, so that manufacturing tolerances in the gear backlash then take that minute out.
It does mean that. I have one similar to the one in the middle. When you set it you have to set it one minute ahead and then it takes two minutes until it flips over to the next minute.
So if I was setting the clock to 5:10. I would set it to 5:11 when my phone hits 5:10 and then two minutes later at 5:12 it will flip over and be correct. So then both will show 5:12.
Bad joke: Why did the fourth clock not arrive? It takes its time.
Just clocked this terrible joke . On the face of it a bad pun , it took me a second but i got to hand it too you , one to watch . #timepiecereferences .
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
🤦♂️
too soon.. get it
@@Max-9632 if my phone had this i would use it. Thank you.
Features:
Cheap
I saw this video about 2 years ago and decided to get the large one as shown in this video. It has been brilliant, it has kept perfect time for 2 years and not needed any adjustment. But I have had 2 digits fall off (one of the 2x tabs the digit rotates on broke) but these were easily repaired with super glue and a pin. Highly recommended.
I love your intro music, it reminds me of naff 70s/80s documentaries that I always got shown in school (and I went to school in the 00s...)
This takes me back to the mid ‘80’s when I had a Sanyo flip clock radio with backlit clock, loved that thing.
It's weird, i haven't touched or set a flip clock in maybe 20 years, but the moment you started turning the wheel on the second clock, i had a very tactile memory of how it felt to spin those things.
Very satisfying feel
The clock on the left (skeleton clock) has so much character. I love how it fails at 42 sec and then just piles up till it flips down.
Techmoan, admittedly I wasn't expecting to get much out of this video about flipping clocks, but again you continue to exceed expectations. Thanks for the information. I think I may be hooked on the postscript puppet performance. Cheers from Texas.
Good afternoon. First tell you that I love your channel, it's sensational, congratulations !.
After commenting that I have exactly that clock (the biggest) and is very nice but makes a very sharp noise at night, you can hear the mechanism very strongly.
I had a Japanese made direct mains driven flip clock in the 80's, worked perfectly for years. Good old Japanese, they still make some good gear.
I have a flip clock from around 1975 and one with a rolling mechanism from the 80s, both Japanese, they both keep time perfectly. Also have a strange mechanical 7 segment display clock (the “lumitime” clock), gears were gunked up a bit but I freed them up and its kept time well since
I can vouch for the one in the middle keeping good time as we have one. May just be lucky but it's lost about a minute in a year. And that's easy enough to fix just by flicking it a two minutes forwards (As when you adjust it, it takes two minutes for the first minute to flip over). However, the minutes do not drop exactly a minute apart I may add. That's why the cheapest one was seemingly faster. Due to tolerances and whatnot minute 57 may last 67 seconds whereas minute 7 may last 53. It all averages out though.
"Features: Cheap"
Well I'm sold.
Lovely I was about to buy them and stopped by youtube for this. Thanks.
I get excited when your review video content ends early cause I know there is a funny muppets sketch coming. They are hilarious. Keep it up
Still waiting for a giant airport flipboard to show up for cheap somewhere...
That will be my new kitchen memoboard :D
What's that dear? Pick up milk after work ?
RATATATATATATATTATATATATA XD
Btw if you want a reliable source of time do not get the cheap ones, even with fresh batteries they will run slow !
Tom Jacobs ohhh, imagine! That would make for the coolest kitchen memoboard ever...
Ooooh, app connected from the internet! Send each other into a swoon with messages from "out there" at unexpected times! Ah yes, what every passive aggressive couple needs. Lol.
Awww, hell, that's actually a pretty damn neat idea. Shame I couldn't even find one from a railway station. Although those can't just write anything your heart desires. But still, that flipboard sound, I miss that.
Use old GE built ones (that use mains power), from what I have seen they are very accurate.
EDIT: I'm speaking in relation to accuracy of the clocks.
I bought an old 1978 GE Flip Clock radio/alarm clock a couple years ago on ebay, it was only like $15, still works fine
Re the puppetry; Great writing and well done. You have a great channel and i truly appreciate your work and silliness.
I recently got a Panasonic RC-6030 on eBay for $40. It's a great clock and seems pretty accurate, especially being from 1971. It's the wood version of the one from Groundhog Day.
I love flip clocks - my first experience of coming across them is when as a kid I used to go to the bank with Mum.
I just wanted to say thank you for the video. I've always loved this style of clock and keep my eyes open for them when at thrift stores, but rarely find a working one. Well, I just received mine today (the cheapest one), and it fits in great in my retro themed gaming room. Awesome!
I'd be interested on your take on those fancy simulated sunlight alarms that are supposed to make waking up in the morning alot easier. Would be interesting to see a budget one compared to one of the mad high end ones
vintage ones are the best :) I like those motors
I got that largest clock as a present about a year ago. i really love the way it looks. It took a short while to get used to the sound of it flipping as I kept it in my bedroom, but I don't even notice it anymore.
Mechanical digital clocks are so cool, and there's a whole world out there of unique and interesting designs and mechanisms. I've got a 1970s Strauss flip clock at my desk and it keeps perfect time; if the power didn't go out for a year, it would still be accurate down to the second... and I only paid a couple bucks for it! Finding vintage ones isn't that easy anymore and if you're lucky to find one, it's likely to be broken, so it's nice that they make new ones again. That 6 digit model demonstrates why this particular type of mechanism didn't display seconds on vintage units... usually they had a spinning wheel that displayed a spiral pattern or something similar, just to show that the clock is running.
Doh, now I want a flip clock, again.... Haha to the muppets at the end. Coming up with the Pedant's Father pupped was the best idea ever.
Get a vintage GE, I have two and they are awesome. The alarms are really annoying though
Ogoun
At 3:58 you can see some brown coloured residue on the 'seconds' wheel, this is on the number 44 flap so probably explains why some flaps get stuck together when it comes round to 42 seconds each minute
7:30 and 5:30 or 7:01
I finally got around to getting the cheaper flip clock thats in the white case and i really love it! Me and my gf were looking for a clock we could put next to our tv, and we didn't want something with a big face or made with led's or anything too bright to distract us from gaming, and this clock was perfect since it has no backlighting! The ticking & flipping is very soft and not noticeable at all while gaming or watching stuff.
Why can't these Chinese manufacturers find one English speaker to write their instruction manuals? lol
Richard saving every dime perhaps.
They just want to do it themselves and save money. Even though most Chinese students can't speak English properly, many of them can write just fine.
too expensive
they do, but its more like "hey we need some one who speaks english" "i speak english" "oh yeah well say something" "ok, (says random nonsense), i am speak english." "hmm i dont speak english, but sounds good to me" "cool, now when do i get payed?"
They don`t give a fuck, they want it to break so they can sell you another one!!!
I looked for flip clocks before, but was disappointed to not find any 24 hour ones cheap enough.
☢ SNICKERS 5+2 GRATIS ☢ Wait did you used to always comment on Ashens videos? I know i recognise your name from somewhere...
You could always buy a old flip clock, there are heap tons of the fuckers. I bought a 70s GE flip clock a few years ago for like 20 bucks...and never had any problem with it.
Cool Dashie photo btw... :P
Who cares if its 24 hours. Just add 12 if is says PM
+Fummy that's fucking annoying for anyone who doesn't grew up with the 12h-system.
Its way more intuitive tbh. Get used to it famalam
The ticking of a clock serves only to remind you at 3 am that you're getting closer to your own death.
I have a very old train station wall mounted flip clock, given to me as a present when they renovated a local train station here in Italy
THE SKETCH at the end was brilliant...
My Seiko flip clock is still going strong.It's from 1976, is powered by 1 x D cell battery which hardly requires changing & has never ever stopped working :)
I wonder if you can buy some kind of replica of the "Groundhog Day" clock, preferably playing "I Got You Babe" as an alarm signal.
Oswald Cobblepot
"I Got You Babe"
Oswald Cobblepot Haha, Groundhog Day is the first thing that comes to my mind whenever I see one of these clocks! That would be awesome :D
"Okay campers rise and shine, get your booties on because it's COLD out there today!" th-cam.com/video/UMsKtAD-ZwE/w-d-xo.html
The muppet parts are always so good!
Best flip clocks you can buy on the cheap are broken vintage ones. They're very precise, come in a wild array of styles, and can be purchased broken. Most of the time, all it needs is a light oiling of the motor assembly. Some Sony Digimatics (and others) have accurate "rolling second indicators", which is just a synchronized rolling ring with the seconds printed onto the side. That way, you can see the seconds, it's accurate, and it isn't too distracting.
Yes, It's very important to making up tooling short accuracy, also you must remember to adjust forward clock change the button for order to well keep time accuracy.
Follow all your videos with interest. You convinced me to purchase the flip-clock you liked, and purchased via ebay, and I am very happy with it. The unexpected astonishing thing is that I after about two months since I received it, it is still keeping exact time! Amazing considering that it is not quartz but mechanical.
I found the same thing with mine - surprisingly accurate.
I always love the old computers Green Muppet uses.
I have a flip clock I picked up about 15 years ago that proudly sits above my TV. It loses about 5 minutes over the course of 6 months, which is how long the batteries last.
This reminds me, do you remember the ball clocks of the 70s? Ball bearings would course through a maze until coming to a stop at the hour and minute.
I just found out about these clocks. Your video is perfect for my curiousity! Very thorough and your voice is just as amusing!
Original flip clocks are driven by 220 volt 50 hz syncro motors in a way to be precise as the power supply frequency is.
50 hz frequency can slightly oscillate but is kept in long term in sync by an atomic clock across europe
I had picked up one of the 6-digit ones a while back and I think part of the problem with the seconds is that it doesn't have the tab hanging down from the bar to hold back the digits like the hours and minutes have. I think if you added a tab it would be more consistent, but never actually tested it.
Of course the main problem is it's meant to be a modular design so they can use the same parts for the 4 digit version that never showed up
Not gonna lie, for me there is not much point in a clock if it can't tell the time to within a minute after a day of being set :p
I found flip clock in the trash/ rubbish the other day. It works fine all I do is work is the radio. So I cleaned it up and use right now my study. And I always wanted to a flip clock back to the future movie and the groundhog movie that's why I always wanted one. It is a General Electric flip clock. I put my digital alarm clock next to it. And so behind by a couple seconds. I had for a few years now. And it's reliable. It also has a light tell what time it is. That's neat.
This is A Great Video. When i was younger my parents had a Panasonic flip clock radio with a faux wood grain finish. It also had an amber glow light when the lights turned off. These clocks bring great memories of my home as a young man. Great ending with your puppets. They always make me laugh. I agree, whats with the comments of "First" on You tube videos anyway. Cheers!
Good stealth on not showing unwanted reflections of the puppeteer on the glass and chrome.
I have the white clock, would definitely recommend, had it for almost a year now and never went out of sync! the clicking sounds might disturb some people at sleeping though, but I got used to it :)
Seems to me a raspberry pi and a stepper motor would make for one very accurate flip clock.
Do it! And send it to him for review (or do a video yourself) :)
The only way would be constantly syncing it to an ntp server. Computer boards aren't particularly great at keeping time on their own.
If I were to fix one of these for accuracy, I'd dismount the movement off the mechanism, attach a temporary seconds hand, then measure the deviation per day. I'd then add a cap parallel to the crystal to slow it down as needed. They are usually too fast. If it was going too slow, I would add a series capacitor with the crystal.
you could use an RTC module on an Arduino or on an even less powerful microcontroller.
YensR
That's an overkill. The clock already includes a quartz crystal circuit. There is usually a constant deviation as a "defect," but it is very stable age-wise. Fixing the deviation with caps to the crystal is a cheap and long-lasting fix you'll be hard-pressed to beat with any solution.
zwz • zdenek I am talking about building your own clock, you talk about modifying an existing one. Both legitimate avenues, but different - so calling it overkill misses the point I think. After all, if a 5 quid RTC module is overkill, then what is syncing to an NTP server ;)
This time i think, i´m really golden, as i always wanted these flip clocks even entirely through that days where was all and way outdated...
I was given some nice "Krupps" clocks where some also has a day count, of course you need to set it every short month.
But the best of all, i got an all and complete 24hour flip clock with full date and weekday from our local bank branch which was closed down some 30 years ago. I came back from school that day and saw some people moving out the furniture, i walked in and asked if i could have that clock, they simply said: shure, we would have tossed that thing right away in the dump anyway in a minute....:-D
I bought one of the large flip clocks, and I love it. It's accurate "enough"... but it scares the cats at the half hour and the hour when both flips snap forward.
AM/PM: That’s soooo US & old-fashioned. In the Civilzed world, we use 24 hour clocks. :P Still, they are neat. :)
God dammit I wanted the 6 digit one so bad but I would sit there going insane when it changed at 4.00 and 9 seconds. Damn.
The instructions that you didn't understand said to set the minute one ahead of the desired time. That's why your seconds clock was one minute behind every time you set it.
I love flip clocks since they appeared in the sixties. But they must be real ones from the seventies. Yours are poor imitations. Real ones MUST have a synchronous motor with 50Hz. and then they are as precise as atomic clocks since they are controlled by the grid frequency. There's always a play in the mechanism, so you can't set them at 5:00 when it's 5:00 but maybe at 5:02! The trick is to advance them and wait until they actually flip, then cut the power (or take out batteries), wait until it's actually let's say 5:02 and the immediately put on power. I have a radio alarm clock from 1975 that is working without any interruption since 41 years. Brand is Hosiden. Even the bulb is still good. There was a famous Japanese brand that I've forgotten now which is searched among collectors. Hope I will remember it. It is very stupid to add seconds since the mechanism will wear out quickly. Changing sixty times more than the minutes, their live span will be sixty times less. I also love the older version with turning drums. You even see them in Humphrey Bogart movies from the 40s. Then they' are American, brand being.....Technotime? Must see, I have a alarm clock, not with drums but with normal hands, but in Bakelite and synchro driven and with a inbuild plug to turn on an lamp for example at a desired time. Is from the 40s (70+ years old) precise on the second!
Wow Juri Vlk, nice clocks you have. That's amazing that Hosiden is still working after 41 years! I occasionally see an old GE flip clock at the thrift stores here in the US, but they always look in rough shape - plastic is yellowed from age or cigarette smoke, or the display is badly scratched. Watching this video and your comment, has renewed my interest in them so I will have to look more carefully at the selection each time I go to the thrifts now!
+johnnykache1000 Hi, the white plastic gets yellow with time, which is a pitty. You can leave it as it is or try to renew it. There is a method someone is explaining on TH-cam. My Hosiden Radio Alarm Clock is wood-colored plastic. The big flip clocks normally come from offices and are still made today, but are expensive, about $ 400$! Sometimes you'll find one when they're transforming a building. The best colours are the cadmium-red (orange) ones, a typically intense orange from the 70s which doesn't exist anymore today because of its cadmium component (cadmium is a heavy metal like lead and toxic).
But in the US you should find the old ones with drums, made by the brand Telechron, which I love, since they are seventy years old and more precise than any quartz clock of today!
Sometimes, the synchronous motor gets stuck, which is a mess. It's only a problem of oil, but in general it is dificult to open the case of the motor. Be carefull not to work on it when it's plugged in since it's 240 V, in the US 120V!
The new flip clocks are fakes since there never existed quartz flip clocks in the 60s/70s! They are like a Cadillac Eldorado 1959 with a Diesel engine. I've bought the same one like in the video, the square one which is the cheapest new for very cheap. Looked great in orange (not cadmium orange but still nice), but lacked precision and was in fact a little noisy.
But anyway, hope you will soon find one! Scratches in the plastic glass are no problem since you can polish them out. You must apply the right technique, or you will melt the "glass". Never stay too long on the same place with the polishing machine since the plastic will get hot after 2 seconds or so and melt. You can use a polishing machine like for polishing cars and fix the machine somehow. Then apply a good polish (like for polishing very old car paint) and then wobble your object in the rotating lambswool pad.
A wish You a lot of fun!
The grid frequency isn't 50Hz precisely. It actually varies, and the (small) variation is used to signal load/demand (if the frequency falls, more generation is brought on-line)
www2.nationalgrid.com/uk/services/balancing-services/frequency-response/
Thanks, it's always good to hear the answer of an expert! Didn't know all the details. In real life, the sychronous clocks are running quite well, more precisely than their battery-powered brothers. I love them!
Aled, I though I remembered reading that it's all tweaked to make sure there are a number of cycles to bring it out to average at 50Hz over the long term though. Although I don't know the provenance of that info.
Got the cheapest plastic box flip clocks, just like in the video, but in black colour. Ended up with hour flip freezed at 4 pm (can't move it even with button pressing), while minutes still keep running.
Thanks for the video!
I bought that cheap white one a few months back (from Germany): don't find it as noisey in general use but do have hrs:mins syncing issues and noisy when it does finally flip over (whole unit shakes). They are pretty from an engineers/retro view point, but that's about it. Great vid.
I have a 1969 Sony Digimatic flip clock, great piece and keeps excellent time its plugged into the mains doesn't run off battery
macnerd93 cool
macnerd93 40+ year old clock
Great idea for a video! More affordable than tubes and almost as interesting.
I bought the cheap one due to your video, for a bit of fun, at the time of the video, and it worked fine until a week ago and the hour mechanism is sometimes not flipping, with a loud click/bang. Maybe budget flip clocks aren't the way to go in the long run :-)
I bought the big flip clock and I love it.
This video provides a definition of the phrase "time keeping" that I was previously unaware of.
I had the cheapest flip clock when I was a teen. It made two sets of batteries explode inside the clock and that's when I decided to throw it away. It could work again after cleaning the contacts for the batteries but I didn't think it was worth using if it meant that I'd have to repair it every time I put in fresh batteries. It was about $15 so I'm glad it didn't break the bank.
You read my mind. I've been debating buying one of these over the last few days.
I still rock my Panasonic flip clock from the 70's wake up for work like Mcfly every day! lol
im sure some one said this but you have to move it one minute ahed if your trying to synce them so if clock a is at 5 35 then you need to flip clock b to 5 36 so they will both sync at 5 37
Thanks so much for this vid! After the timer I was scouring the net for my own flip clock and there are TONS of CHEAP ones and I figured they would be terrible time keepers given the low low cost. Lee Valley sells an accurate one with calender but its very pricy. I am going to get the large one for fun.
I've had a very similar model to the cheapest one in my kitchen for more than a year now. Same batteries, albeit very good batteries, but the time is still set correctly, maybe off by a minute or so.
How did those Muppets ever get married....?
Nick Wills Thats what every couple asks themselves ;)
They must've met pre-internet.
+sixtopian Very accurate
I was thinking the same :)
They were made for each other.
Go retro similar, but not quite flip.
Obtain a mechanical digital clock from the 40s-50s. Continuous rotating seconds wheel synchronized to the minutes and hours which are also wheels rather than flip digits (really actually wheels of a sort). Only hitch is that they use 120V 60Hz synchronous motors. (Also applies to your timer clock?) So you must find one meant for 220/50Hz or it will be a PITA for you to really use. Unless you come up with a 120V 60Hz BIG supply for all the retro US equipment you use regularly.
I also see a new TV series developing for you as we all anxiously await new family members and plot development with your muppet characters.
150
The 120V 60Hz will be absolutely no problem for me. I would try to seek out Cesium-133 accuracy for my clocks.
i have the large flip clock, have had it a couple years now. It is a great clock! The only issue is it runs slightly fast. Slowly it will get faster and faster before I change it. Currently at 10 minutes fast!
I actually bought the four-digit version of the second clock in the video about a year ago. I quite like it and it kept decent enough time for a desk clock and was easy to read when I got out of bed.
Unfortunately the minute panel that has the little wing broke off recently, which messes with the way the hour switch over works so that the initial couple minute panels get messed up. Thankfully the mechanism still keeps decent time.
Definitely one of my favorite channels. Was thinking of getting a flip clock last week after watching a bunch of the retro vids, and lo and behold, now there's a vid for flip clocks. Doesn't sound like these new clocks are as good as the old Emerson AM/FM/alarm flip clock I had as a kid though!
At 7:30
Thanks for this video I bought the big one because of it and I love it.. it’s so nice and it’s quiet
I think I like the cheapest one the best as it would be nice for the table in my bedroom next too my bed as if it ever got knocked off I would not be as worry about it breaking, as it looks more durable.
If you want a proper industrial-grade flip clock that some banks use, get a Twemco one.
I would say it does count seconds, it is just that the minute drop is not consistent enough. So it is really that it doesn't count minutes properly.
I also see that the other clocks don't have such a connection between the minute and hour, do they change right on the hour? That wasn't in the video.
The manual clearly states that the seconds are just decoration! Spotted that right away!
I wonder if anyone fast forwards to the end puppet show first before watching the review.
To be honnest, I sometimes do look if the muppets are at the end. They should have their own show!
Me too, I don't even look ahead in the video, I rather wait.
♫ Then put your little hand in mine
There ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb... ♫
Batteries last six months.......these new flip clocks are power hungry then. My bedside clock is an old Japanese Seiko flip-clock and runs on ONE D-cell battery and it's had the same battery for over a year now and still keeps excellent time.
The D cell compartment on the large clock with the circular cap looks cool.
Thank you Matt, that nicely resolves a dilemma I've had for the last week or so!
save your money, get "fliqlo" flip clock for your computer, it's a free screensaver, works with all versions of windows since vista, including windows 10
I bought the cheap one about a year ago, before seeing this video. I always fancied a clock like the on in LOST (alas ThinkGeek's April Fool version never made it to reality) so the intent was to install this one in a custom case and possibly modify the minute digits to be white-on-black and more closely resemble the one from the show. As with many of my projects none of that happened, but the clock itself is surprisingly nice. A pair of decent rechargeable batteries lasted about 11 months (changed them a couple of weeks ago and I don't recall changing them previously) and it had only gained about 15 seconds in that time. Certainly accurate enough to use as a quick glance clock, although I'm guessing limited QA means there'll be a lot of variation in accuracy and I may have just got lucky. In my home office with computers and/or ceiling fan running, I don't notice the ticking or even the "flap" of the changing digits most of the time. I'm not sure I'd want it as a bedroom clock though.
That 3rd clock would look great accompanied by a Banker's Lamp (one of them green lamp shade lamps with gold bodies), I think.
I got my flip clock for $1 at Goodwill USA. The radio doesn't work alarm doesn't work. But it keeps good time. I use it as a desk clock in my office.
Tyler Melton H&M
Ps always want a flip clock because the movie Back to the Future.
Bought the big one about 2 years ago, also thinking it'd be a lot smaller LOL! Uses a battery a year approx. and is actually super accurate. Great conversation point.
7:30.1 7:01.001 5:30.001
Literally just saw that cheap white one in a commercial I mean budgets are getting out of hand!