The least reliable clock(s)?

[Performa]

I've seen discussions and statements that a few clocks out there are more or less notorious for having pretty cheap and unreliable mechanisms, requiring a lot of maintenance to keep them going- almost more trouble than it's worth in some cases. Going along that line of thought, are there any clocks that you'd consider "display only" as they look good, but any effort to run them as designed is more or less futile?

Many thanks in advance for any thoughts, opinions, or insight!

[Guest]

These are the first ones that come to mind. There may be more....

Almost anything Sankyo or using the Sankyo flip movements. (Ken-Tech, etc)
Sony TFM-C660/770 (Emerson R5100A uses the same movement)
Panasonic RC-6530 (Uses a worm-drive gearset made from brass that is fragile/subject to wear/slop)
Panasonic RC-1280 (Same issue as the RC-6530)

[flipoclock]

Indeed, anything Sankyo. They had 2 different movements, one of them is sort of serviceable, the other not. I have not discovered yet how to determine from the outside which is inside, I'm afraid that that is not possible. I steer away from these unless I sometimes get lucky and get to buy a batch of clocks and there is one or more Sankyo in there, I won't reject them of course. Sometimes you do get lucky, but even then, they might stop working the next day. Some of them are really nice to look at, but yeah, perhaps more for display purposes.

Anything with a Telechron like motor, they tend to be pretty reliable, but when they do stop working, they are almost impossible to revive although there is a guy in the US (you can google him, he has a website), who does it and also replaces parts inside of the motor, but he does charge a hefty (and likely fair) price of around US$ 90 for a refurbishment.

[cyb3rbyte]

Agreed with Sankyo and Sony cyclometer movement issues. The later quartz flip clocks can be a pain too from what I’ve heard. Add to the list the motors that Seth Thomas used in my model 821, and that whole line of motors as they disintegrate.

[Guest]

The quartz units I have seen causing trouble were the Krupps flip clocks and Boselli Icon 30 (Big flip tiles) models. These had terrible quartz-timed, coil-driven escapement wheel and fork configurations. The Krupps was battery powered. I have a really nice Boselli Icon 30...and the jewels on the fork just broke off. Useless now.

The motors in the Seth Thomas (General Time Corp "rotors") are actually quite robust and reliable if it is the all-metal gear version.... they are just difficult to open up because of the crimped case. Later versions has plastic reduction gears that would crack.

[Mackey]

Ken-Techs are