The March of Time: The Robot Flip Clock
By Barb Dybwad 
posted Mar 26th 2005 8:00AM
posted Mar 26th 2005 8:00AM
Time flies when you're having fun, but it walks when you're at your desk thanks to the animated Robot Flip Clock.
Created by designer Michael Daniel, the $80 clock's metallic legs swing forward when the numbers in the clock face
change, creating the illusion of time moving forward — literally. It's held in place on your desk via rubber feet, so
you won't actually have to prevent it from leaping over the edge — though there's nothing preventing you from doing so
once you've been driven mad by this clock in the press of your next deadline.
[Via Podgadget]
"the $80 clock’s metallic legs swing forward when the numbers in the clock face change, creating the illusion of time moving forward"
The illusion is how every gadget site claims that the legs move. I haven't seen one of these in person, but the bracket on the bottom looks suspiciously like the same one sold at the hardware store for securing a door with a 2x4. The 'legs' are bent 1/4" rods, secured by acorn nuts on the top (not motors of any kind). If they move at all it would certainly be a great illusion.
Look a little deeper and the original description simply says "swinging legs" (no mention of motorized motion):
http://www.moafl.org/store/1054.htm or
http://www.addject.com/product.asp?id=4011
Ummm.....no. I have this clock. The legs can be MANUALLY moved, but they do not move by themselves. Take a closer look at the picture: there is no mechanism to make the legs move.
$80!! I bought this very clock at a surplus store for $5 many years ago. I took the stupid legs off and re-arranged the case to make it into a wall mount. The compliments it recieved dramatically increased. The batteries last forever on these and it keeps good time.
And just to confirm the obvious-- No, the legs do not move. Everything except for the clock mechanism is all hardware store bits and pieces.
Haha $80! Suckers! I paid $10 for this about 5 years ago.
It's a damn fine clock, though you have to carefully clean it a lot otherwise dust will get in there and it will stop working. This flip mechanism, common is tons of older clocks really wasn't meant for the open air.
My friend just picked up a neat little $5 from ebay that cleverly uses a standard quartz wall-clock mechanism to turn a gear on the minute hand. You hang a square (or maybe they come in many other shapes) gear on this and it goes around throughout the day. Pretty spiffy little clock for the price. The auction was here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6161498412