Romeo Wolf
Super Member
Yesterday I was out shopping at my local antique store when I found this Sun Valley flip clock. Normally when I find flip clocks out in the wild, they're either wildly overpriced, in terrible condition, missing knobs, or I just don't find them at all. My campus does actually have a Panasonic flip clock radio, but obviously it's part of campus property so I can't take it. Needless to say, I've been looking on and off for a flip clock over the past 8 years and haven't found one until yesterday, in decent condition, for a fair price. 10 bucks. I did ask to test it out and it does at least work somewhat.
It does have a few issues (as to be expected for a clock from the 70's). The original neon bulb is VERY dim and makes reading the time difficult beyond nearfield distance in a dark room. Half of the number tiles also stick together, which seems to be common with this model clock. There's also the issue of this "burning chemical smell" that my mom describes, like burning plastic. I can't smell it at all unless my nose is right on top of the clock unit - but my mom has a VERY sensitive nose and can smell it throughout the apartment. So for now I have it unplugged and stashed away in a drawer until I can get to it.
One quirk I also found is that whenever I set the time even a minute forward, the clock always takes forever (something like 2 minutes) to flip over the first digit - but then after that it operates more or less normally, which makes it really difficult to set the time accurately. It does seem to keep time ok.
Otherwise I'm happy.
It does have a few issues (as to be expected for a clock from the 70's). The original neon bulb is VERY dim and makes reading the time difficult beyond nearfield distance in a dark room. Half of the number tiles also stick together, which seems to be common with this model clock. There's also the issue of this "burning chemical smell" that my mom describes, like burning plastic. I can't smell it at all unless my nose is right on top of the clock unit - but my mom has a VERY sensitive nose and can smell it throughout the apartment. So for now I have it unplugged and stashed away in a drawer until I can get to it.
One quirk I also found is that whenever I set the time even a minute forward, the clock always takes forever (something like 2 minutes) to flip over the first digit - but then after that it operates more or less normally, which makes it really difficult to set the time accurately. It does seem to keep time ok.
Otherwise I'm happy.
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