On Mon, 20 Oct 2014 15:41:41 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Harold Davis wrote:
Does someone know where I might get hold of a decent mechanical alarm
clock? All I've found are

* a piece of junk with two bells on the top by Acctim that lasts a few
months

* crap plasticky Chinese copies of Westclox models, ditto - which is
sad, because the original Westclox clocks were superb - I had a Big Ben
that lasted 40 years

I don't care much how big it is. A 10-year guarantee or better would be
nice.

Thanks in advance!

Think you'll be lucky to find a decently made new clockwork one. Perhaps
in Harrods or a West End jeweller?

If you said what the problem was with a quartz type, perhaps some might
have ideas on how to get round it?

I keep a small Casio TQ-120B quartz bell alarm clock on my bedside
table which has an analogue display which it relies upon for operating
the alarm bell (as well as the time setting wheel on the back there's
also an alarm setting one which drives the thin red hours alarm
pointer).

It measures 3 1/2 inches wide by 2 1/2 inches tall by 1 1/4 inch
deep. Aside from the time and alarm setting wheels on the back, the
right hand side houses the bell with a slide up switch above the bell
louvres.

With the alarm set, the top of the switch pokes up above the top of
the case so that a waving up and down motion with a flattened out hand
can effectively silence the alarm as per the good old fashioned wind
up types. It runs off a single AA cell and I think we bought it over a
decade ago (the clock, not the AA cell! :-).

It has the desirable feature of quartz timekeeping accuracy with all
the simplicity (and sound) of an old fashioned wind up clock. Since
the electric bell is the heaviest drain on the AA cell, we get ample
warning of impending cell exhaustion by the alarm bell starting to
fade in loudness. The AA cell always gets replaced before low voltage
starts to compromise its timekeeping ability.

The consequence of such timely cell replacement also means the risk
of leakage induced corrosion of the battery contacts, so often fatal
to similar AA powered quartz wallclock movements, is virtually
non-existent when 'leakproof' alkaline cells are fitted.

I've tried searching for images of this timepiece but to no avail.
Since it claims japanese manufacture, I suspect this might well be
more than a decade old (do Casio still have factories based in their
homeland?).

I did notice that Casio still do similarly styled quartz bell alarm
bedside table clocks (but be careful to make sure that you're buying a
model with a real bell - a lot of suppliers were rather lacking in
detail).
--
J B Good