Speaking of the cat's meow

[jasonl]

Look what Bri gave me for Valentine's day.

The link is to a video of it running. The tail swings and the eyes move just like the original.

http://members.cox.net/rotoswirl/videos/kitcat.wmv

 

[DADoES]

Yay!!

 

[tolivac]

My grandmother had one of those in her basement.Loved the thing.Hers also made sort of a "meow" sound as the eyes moved and the tail wagged.The Kit-Kat clock has got to be a true classic timepeice.

 

[retromom]

Kit Kat Clock

Aw Jason and Bri! That is soooooooooo cute! I always loved those wonderful Kit Kat clocks! Almost got one for the daughter (a real cat lover) at Restoration Hardware last year. After looking at yours, I may get her one. Yes, I know it would be a repro., but the chances of me finding a working one in good condition at a great price would be as slim as a cat's whisker! ;-)

Loved the music too!

Venus

 

[kenmore1978]

Repro Kit Kat clock

To me, a repro is OK, IF it's done well. Sort of an honor to the original piece. The fact that someone thinks it's worthwhile to do a repro of something is testimony that the original piece wasn't just a fad, never to be seen again, but a lasting thing that keeps coming back to delight a new generation who wasn't around to see the originals, and makes it affordable to those who can't afford an original.

 

[retromom]

Ditto Jaune

Thank you Jaune! I feel the same way.

Venus

 

[veg-o-matic]

Sigh. Okay, I've already had this argument with Bethann. Guess it's time to take it on the road!

The Kit Kat clock is NOT a reproduction, since it was never OUT of production. Other than updating the inner workings, it's pretty much the same as it was when it was first introduced.

Not sure if the California Clock Co. still has the Kit Kat club, but youall might want to check it out. I belonged years ago.

BTW, I have one, too, but the movement finally gave out. It was close to 20 years old at the time. I replaced the movement with a battery-op one, so the eyes don't work and the tail doesn't wag, but I couldn't imagine my bedroom without the clock!

veg

http://www.kit-kat.com

 

[pulsator-power]

Still cool after all these years!
Jerry

 

[jasonl]

Battery vs. AC Kit Cats

The one I have there is a battery unit. The movement is your typical battery quartz clock movement with a magnet for the pendulum(the tail). The tail's also linked to the eyes. I'll take a pic and/or video of the inside. Not much to see but the quartz movement. The tail and the linkage are visible.

I seem to remember the old AC models (I want one of those too) the tail swung at a slower speed than the battery model. Is that correct or did the one I see so long ago just running slow? Mine does a full swing every second.

As far as Repros go, it's kinda like Wurlitzer remaking their 1015 jukebox as the 1015OMT. It looks the same outside but new guts inside.

 

[kenmore1978]

AC clocks

Speaking of AC clocks, has anyone noticed that they are virtually IMPOSSIBLE to find? Seems like EVERYTHING is battery, at least in the larger clocks. They still seem to be available in small bedside clocks, as are the wind-up clocks like Big and Baby Bens.

I've even seen clocks that have lights in them that run off AC, but the clock itself is battery. If they've already gone to all the trouble of bringing AC into the clock, the clock itself might as well be AC.

 

[kenwashesmonday]

Somewhere packed away in a box I have a Kit Kat Rhinestone edition AC powered clock.

Ken D.

 

[bethann]

Cool Clock!

I wanna pink one! But of course they always go sky high on bay! I had a watch on one the other day and it went over two hundred bucks! Maybe one of these days I'll find one at a garage sale or something!

 

[tolivac]

Arent the "Rhinestone" editions of the Kit-Kat clocks more valuable than the standard black ones?The one at my Grandmothers house was an AC one.

 

[spiralactivator]

My friend, who I call the Cat Lady, has a Kit-Kat clock in her kitchen. I once had a similar clock, ordered from the Tidy Cat litter bag. It was the '90s Tidy Cat with a clock in its tummy and a pendulum tail.

 

[jasonl]

I have a knock-off clock that looks like a brownish cat with a swinging tail. It's more "girly" and "cat-lover"ish than the Kit Cat. Maybe I should put a battery in it and hang her up beside the Kit Kat clock so he'd have a mate.

By way the way, Bri gave my Kit Cat a name. Tuxedo. Hey that fits.

 

[jasonl]

Kitty Cat clock

By the way, My clock is a KITTY-Cat model, which is a little bit smaller than the regular one. A baby kitcat.

 

[Designgeek]

Those are cute as hell.

There's something to be said for battery and for AC, it all depends. The tradeoff is: wires trailing down the wall and clock-outage during power failures, vs. forgetting to replace batteries until "oops!"

I get the impression houses used to be built with an AC outlet up high on the kitchen wall specifically for the clock. Or at least I have a picture of this in my mind's eye, having seen it at least once.

Check these sites out; they are actually two different sides of the same company:

www.alarmclocksonline.com (Modern and high-quality repros; speaking of cool stuff, click the link for the Moonbeam clock)

www.alarmclockdoc.com (Original antique clocks, properly reconditioned.)

 

[jasonl]

Moonbeam clock

I think my grandparents still have their original moonbeam clock. I remember a light would come on and then it would buzz.