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My giant flip clock

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AlmightyTallest

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My giant flip clock

Post02 Jun 2013, 19:06

Hey guys,

This is my latest toy, it's a giant flip clock!! There's not much else to say about it, it's plastic, has a neat 70's look to it, and it's a flip clock!

I had trouble thinking of things I could put beside it to help others see how large this thing is, without using a tape measure, it runs for two years on two "D" Cell batteries and has a little red led that blinks every second on the right side.

So for reference, on the right hand side of the clock is a 12oz. can of Pepsi, and on the left the large round of ammunition is a 30mm cannon round for the A-10 aircraft, the smaller round is a 50 caliber Browning round from WW2.


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richard_uk

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Re: My giant flip clock

Post02 Jun 2013, 23:19

Very cool, I want one!
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charger105

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Re: My giant flip clock

Post03 Jun 2013, 13:01

Yeah, it's a beauty !
Any idea where it's from ? A railway station perhaps ?
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Re: My giant flip clock

Post03 Jun 2013, 15:17

Very Nice :mega:

How noisy are these flip over clocks?
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Re: My giant flip clock

Post03 Jun 2013, 20:20

From what I can tell, it seems these clocks are commercial or industrial grade, for Banks, schools, Railway/subway stations etc. The movement is actually from Germany. I'm checking to see how far off it is in time in 30 days, as I'm expecting it to be pretty accurate for a commercial clock.

As far as noise, if these were mounted in a bank or other large area, I don't think you'd notice, but since mine is mounted about 6 feet away, I hear a gentle "Whirr click flop" for one second each minute, otherwise it's absolutely silent. At the top of each hour however, when all digits flip it's a much louder "Kachunk! click! flop!" Which I hate to admit caught me off guard a few times and I jumped :lol: The sounds it makes scared my pet parrot for a few minutes until he got used to it, but the louder noises at the top of the hour still causes him to fly off my shoulder. :lol:

I have much smaller flip clocks from the 70's that are electrically powered, they make a gentle hum and click when the digits flip, which I can sleep through. The cheap small bedside Chinese flip clock I have is noisy and tick tocks which bothers my sleep, there's a difference in how loud or quiet they might be.

For reference, here's a really nice example of Italian flip clock, I'd love to have this model so if anyone comes across it and doesn't want it, I'll take it!! :-D In the video when he takes it apart and puts power to it you can hear the gentle tick of each second.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbWVYXuHQJg

This video shows a large Chinese flip clock which you can find online for about $50 to $70, the audio on this video helps you to get an idea of the sounds these clocks tend to make.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vfvg2eGa6ME

This commercial Bodet Flip clock has some of the characteristics of mine, large size, movement is encased, flips aren't too loud, until that thing hits 12:00 in the video, which I think mine is slightly quieter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF6Nma1V4VQ

And this Japanese Copal flip clock sounds very much like mine, even has a neat green led flashing the seconds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HrHyYbw_H0
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Cesar

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Re: My giant flip clock

Post03 Jun 2013, 22:55

Very cool, but don't put it in the bedroom.

;* ;* ;* Prrrrrrrrrrrr ;* FLIP :eek: ...ack.. :bang:

M:)W:)M
He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.
The reason i collect watches is because it feels like i'm buying time.
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AlmightyTallest

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Re: My giant flip clock

Post04 Jun 2013, 00:31

lol, no doubt Cesar. I was awake in broad daylight and knew the clock was there, but even then I was surprised by the sound at the top of the hour. Definately not for the bedroom lol.
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richard_uk

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Re: My giant flip clock

Post04 Jun 2013, 01:36

Not cheap at around £235GBP :-(

http://flip-clock.net/flipclock_BQ100.html
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Kasper

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Re: My giant flip clock

Post04 Jun 2013, 10:01

great clock..i have one of those cheap chinese ones ...never worked :-D
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Re: My giant flip clock

Post04 Jun 2013, 14:28

I love the mechanical action of these flip over clocks. I see the chap in the first video also had a change of heart and decided not to destroy the clock, I wonder if he ever got it fixed! The flip over to 12:00 does appear to be quite loud - I agree with the previous comments it is not a clock for the bedroom.
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Re: My giant flip clock

Post04 Jun 2013, 16:50

I offered to purchase the clock the gentleman was taking apart in the first video. They told me it was sold to a collector a few months ago, so it found a good home and is restored to full working condition.

There wasn't anything wrong with the clock, except that they were trying to run it on U.S. 120V 60Hz line, making it not keep time. It's meant for Italian 110V 50Hz I think, so that was the only problem with it. :D

I've never seen one that flipped horizontally and had counting seconds like that one, just too cool for me, would love to find one again.

Thanks for that link Richard, I went to the source at the Twemco website and E-mailed them asking for a price quote for the BQ-100 and got a price that was 100 pounds lighter than the one in your link. :-) They even said they can customize the clock with either all black, or all white color, and 24hr time mode for you guys that like that if you wanted. For a more modest clock that still keeps good time the BQ-50 seems like the best model in my opinion. I'm thinking it might be a little quieter, and it's about another hundred pounds less than the larger BQ-100 from the Twemco website.
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Re: My giant flip clock

Post04 Jun 2013, 20:34

I should have hunted eBay sooner, one went in the UK yesterday for £47.50 :bang:
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Re: My giant flip clock

Post05 Jun 2013, 18:54

If you guys are interested in a flip clock, definitely keep an eye out on ebay. There's a few of these larger ones out there, usually when the larger versions of the Copal, and Twemco show up they tend to go for under $100 USD.

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