The General Electric 8131-4A
I was able to get my hands on a GE 8131-4A, which, are relatively rare on eBay for some reason. These are basically the same internally as the black GE 8142-4, but with out the TIE fighter wings. The 8142-4 can be found by the dozen on eBay at any time.
Details: The clock is what most people call a "rolling wheel" clock. While the number on the wheel may appear to be solid, you'll find that on the inside, there's a whole lot of flipping going on. On the hours and last minute wheel, each tile has two sides with a different number. As the when advances it is fliped on the back side of the wheel (not visible unless you open up the clock). This mechanism is GE's "Chronotel" mechanism, made in Singapore. The downside? the clock does not have am or pm. You have to just guess (based on sunshine, I suppose). When setting the clock, again, no am or pm. Just make sure that you don't pull out the alarm function until it's less than 12 hours before you want to wake.
The clock does have a snooze button that, when pressed, will re-sound the alarm after 10 minutes.
The clock uses GE's Telecrhon motor. This is a sealed motor that works by the back in being positioned within an electromagnetic field. Panasonic had one of these for a while, but they are famous for failing. GE's telechron motor is all metal inside that case and is self lubricating. Panasonic's uses nylon gears that are prone to simply discinatrating. In either of these type motors, when they start to fail, they get very noisy.
Check out the video below for more details, including how I used a Spyderco Pocket knife to help with disassembly (more fancy than my typical use of a butter knife. Maybe more manly too ... ).
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