Tide clocks; Moon not Sun cycles

Significance

A quartz tide clock, probably from China, circa 1990. The movement uses lunar cycles, not solar cycles, with a period of 12 hours, 25 minutes and 25 seconds. There is only one hand showing the tide time. The movement is probably common between solar and lunar clocks with just the crystal frequency changed.

Description

A wood desk clock. Quartz tide clock. Movement faulty but replaced.

Quartz clocks are electronic-mechanical. An integrated circuit uses a quartz crystal to generate about a 1 Hz electrical pulse that drives a solenoid, like an impulse slave clock. The little plastic gears may wear out or stop from dirty lubrication, like other mechanical movements.

Source

Local Op-shop.

24 hours and 50.5 12 25 25




The quartz movement. The silver cylinder is the quartz crystal that oscillates. The black dob on the circuit board is the integrated circuit that drives the crystal and produces a 1 Hz pulse for the solenoid. The gears can be seen to drive the hands.











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