Not quite like clockwork

I love clocks. I'm serious, I actually do. Is this because I don't wear a watch? Probably. It seems like there's always a clock where you need one, whether it's on the computer screen, the smart phone, or on the wall. I'm not one of those people who always has the phone close by when I'm at home - mostly because my favorite sweatpants don't have pockets - so I'm pretty dependent on the wall clocks I have around here. I've never spent more than $30 on a clock and I've had pretty good luck. With one noticeable exception.

I searched for months to find this clock when I bought it a couple of years ago because I was looking for something that was of a pretty specific style. I never quite found what I really wanted, but figured this clock was as close as I was going to get. Is it really 10:32?

Nope.

The wall clock was last set in October when we fell back because of Daylight Savings. The loss of 11 minutes in 3 months - maybe not such a huge deal? Well, in the grand scheme of things, I suppose not. The trouble is, this wall clock hangs in the bathroom where I get ready before going to work each day. My eyes are constantly glancing back and forth as I brush my teeth, blow dry my hair, pick out my clothes and jewelry, and finish getting ready each morning. The digital clock above is in my bedroom, and I do see it a few times each morning also, but it's usually difficult to read because of a glare coming in through the window. My parents have a clock at their house that has never, in my lifetime, kept good time. In some ways I think having a clock you can't trust is more disorienting than having no clock at all, so I realized after living with it for way too long that I had to make a change.

I had high hopes for the new clock I was going to find too. It wasn't just going to keep accurate time...

What's that white stuff peeking out from behind the clock?

Yep, it's a wash cloth that has been living inside the clock for the last 2 years to muffle the noise from the mechanism which was so loud it made it hard for me to fall asleep!

So, this is the replacement! I found it at Target before Christmas and stashed it in my apartment somewhere for several weeks until I had the chance to get it out and set up. I was really excited because I had blind faith it would keep good time and be quiet about it. Seriously, I don't know why I thought it would work better than the old clock, except that hope springs eternal.

The new clock is definitely quieter. But, I think because the face is exposed, it also easily stops keeping time. The second hand clicks back and forth but the hour and minute hands stay stock still. I put this sucker on the wall on Saturday and soon made the discovery that it wasn't keeping time at all. I removed it from the wall and fiddled with it several times on both Saturday and Sunday. I seriously tried flicking the hands, knocking on the back, laying it flat, leaning it upright, and any other awkward thing I could do to spur it to action. I'm not sure which of these actions was most effective. All I know is that I finally got it going. Ever since I hung it back in place on Sunday morning, it's been doing great. I got really lucky!