California Clock Company Kit Cat Klock Moving Retro Clock
by KIT CAT Klock
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List Price: Our Price: $49.95 You Save: $10.04 (17%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: Toy See more product details |
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of California Clock Company Kit Cat Klock Moving Retro Clock
Customer Review: Love my kitty
Summary: 4 Stars
Yes, it is made of plastic and doesn't seem like the most sturdy thing, but mine works just fine and is as cute as can be!Customer Review: Cat Clock
Summary: 3 Stars
It is cute but MUCH smaller than I was expecting. I feel the dimensions should be posted on the site so people know what to expect. I would send it back but I really want this for my daughter for Christmas. She has always wanted one. But this little kitty ending up costing me almost $50. I expected more.Customer Review: A Delightful Relic of Scandalously Poor Design.
Summary: 2 Stars
The familiar, smiling feline resembling Felix the cat is a pop-culture classic. Created by the California Clock Company (now in Portland, Oregon) in 1932, the Kit Cat Clock sports a unique art-deco style, delightful smile, and big kitty eyes, whose cuteness continues to make sales. The company claims to sell an average of one kitty every three minutes. That works out to about 175,000 kitties per year. That would make for about 13 million kitties total, if the statistic holds for the entire 3/4-century lifetime of the product.
If this is true, it is an utterly astonishing result, because the quality of this clock is abysmal.
To be fair, the clock does keep good time. But wall clocks that keep good time are available on Amazon for $3.99 -- you want the Kit Cat clock because it's so darn charming! Unfortunately, the charming tail and eye mechanism that this clock boasts just doesn't work. The failure isn't due to any particular oversight on the part of the California Clock Co.; it's just a scandalously poor design.
If you manage to get the back cover off the Kit Cat without breaking it (and you'll need to anyway to install two C batteries), watch out for the messy hot-glue job holding the insides together. The kitty's guts consist of a clock casing, a battery casing, and the eye-tail mechanism. The eyes and tail connect (rather precariously) to a thin plastic rod with a magnet on one end. Astoundingly, this magnet is the only design feature that keeps the eyes and tail moving. There is another magnet in the body of the clock, so that if you give the tail a little push, the repulsive force between the magnets makes the mechanism move back and forth for longer than it would otherwise.
However, the tail does not swing once per second, because it is not connected to the clock. As the above description suggests, the eye-tail mechanism is not even connected to the batteries. This means that doesn't swing continuously, but comes to a stop after a little while. Indeed, this design could never have a continuously swinging tail, unless perpetual motion were possible!
As far as anyone knows, perpetual motion is impossible. One can only hope that the perpetual sales of the Kit Cat Clock is impossible too, unless the California Clock Co either improves their design, or lowers the price of the Kit Cat to the earthly realm of the other low-quality clocks on Amazon.
Customer Review: Kitty had to be put down
Summary: 2 Stars
I got this clock as a gift. I always thought they were so cute and I wanted one for years. Unfortunately, the movement for the tail and eyes is very temperamental and stop working whenever Kitty wanted a nap. Really, I've had two of these clocks. After constantly adjusting the tiny screw inside to keep the eyes and tail moving on my first clock, they would move for a while and then stop. This was quite aggrevating! I contacted the California Clock Co. and they said they'd give me a discount on a new clock if I sent the old one back. I didn't think it was a good deal but I liked the clock so much that I went along with it. The second clock I took off the wall this weekend after the same problem got just too bothersome. Between the both of them, I've had a Kit Kat Klock for a few years. And while they're charming, I thought the constant adjustment of the screw and waiting for it to stop again spoiled all the fun.
Ugh! It's adorable but not very well made or reliable. The clock would still keep time but the motionless cat just looked dead. And what's the point of having an animated clock that isn't animated?
If the company would redesign this product to make it more reliable, I'd love to get one again. As it is, I'm going to move on -- and I would not recommend this product to anyone else.
Customer Review: What a cheaply made product for the money!
Summary: 2 Stars
Just got this today and i must say for the price i expected more, wouldn't recommend giving this to anyone with high blood pressure as just trying to get the back cover off and on without breaking the cheap plastic case is enough to send someone's pressure through the roof!Read other reviews that say it stops working, of course i missed these before purchasing, but i will say this to the California Clock Company, it will be a really aggravating day for them if MY clock stops working because right now i feel like i have thrown away money.