La Crosse Technology WT-3144S 14 Inch Atomic Analog Silver Wall Clock

Looks great and keeps perfect time.

Unit I have is now over three years old and works so well I gave one to a niece and her husband and both appreciate this great clock. All you do is to place a single AA battery, set it for your Time Zone, then Summer Time or Standard Time, place it near a window and overnight sets itself. The battery lasts over a year but as a soul of caution check battery strength each time change using an inexpensive Universal Battery Tester purchased also from Amazon checking every battery powered device including smoke/carbon dioxide detectors and flashlights. As a former U.S. Navy Quartermaster-Navigator I want all my time pieces accurate to the very second and this is the unit I set all of them by.

This LACROSSE TECHNOLOGY 14 INCH ATOMIC ANALOG CLOCK (WT-3144S, Silver) replaces a similar “atomic” wall clock that I purchased from Staples many years ago. That clock finally lost its ability to find a radio-broadcast time signal after being dropped once too often. I love atomic clocks, because they never need resetting for daylight or standard time. I also love battery-powered wall clocks, because they aren't affected by frequent local electrical outages. This clock will run for a couple of years on a single AA alkaline battery! When you need to replace the battery, the clock resets itself automatically. (The battery is not included.) This big silver clock is plastic, and looks kinda cheap; but that's forgivable because it’s budget-priced (about $22 on Amazon). The face is large enough, and readable enough, that you can place it up high somewhere--and then nobody can tell what it's made of. I have mine sitting on a stand for decorative ceramic plates, on top of a bookcase, and it looks fine. My clock was simple to set up. There is a slider for setting the time zone, and one for setting automatic Daylight Time adjustments. I inserted the battery and placed the clock near a window, facing east (because the source of the time signal is in Colorado, and I’m in California). The clock found a signal almost immediately and set itself to the correct time. (The manual says it may take up to 5 overnights to find a signal; but the clock can also be set manually if no signal can be found.)

The good: - Looks nice - Automatically set quickly! It spun around once and didn't find a signal so we took it outside. Nothing happened. I popped the batteries out and back in again, walked inside, pointed the back generally toward Colorado, and it immediately set. I'm in the northeast, and the clock found the signal quickly. The odd/bad: - The silver band around the face is slightly distorted and warped (this seems to be due to little screws that are behind the band). - The instructions are literally inside the back of the packaging, so you have to almost tear the box apart to get them out. Why not just throw them in the box behind the clock? The quality seems ok, but I'm hoping durability is better than ok. I'll update later if I have issues with it (I mostly just wanted to comment on the ease of set up for now as this seemed to cause issues for some people.)

I have other "atomic" clocks - all digital - because we have a lot of power outages in my area and I'm tired of resetting the plug-in-the-wall clocks all the time. I've grown very fond of not getting up late or coming home to find my clock's fifteen minutes to who knows off from the correct time. So when a battery-operated clock's movement bit the dust, I looked for a replacement relatively similar in appearance, and came across this La Crosse atomic battery-operated version - I have to admit I was a little skeptical but I purchased it. Well, whaddya know - it works! It did take about 8 minutes to lock onto a signal after it automatically set itself first to 12 o'clock - I don't know what kind of a drain on the battery it was to make the hands run around the dial twice but I have to say it was really cool to watch it set itself. There is a time zone selector switch on the back of the battery housing and a DST switch, and it's really fun to realize that at the next Daylight Savings Time switch this thing will reset itself automatically. It's kept perfect time since I bought it, matching to the minute with the digital clocks and the ones in my computer and phone. I don't know how long it'll work (or even what to expect when I finally have to change the battery) but for now it's been an excellent purchase.

My wife and I run a massage therapy practice that has four treatment rooms and a reception area where we need good quality, easily readable clocks that are quiet and sturdy. It was my dream to have atomic clocks so that every clock is synched up and would adjust itself for daylight savings. In the past, not only was it a bummer to have to come in and change each individual clock... it would also be problematic for each clock to drift over time so that one was five minutes fast... one was seven minutes slow... etc... Two Therapists would start at the same time in different rooms but come out several minutes apart. Being a control freak - that drove me crazy. Now we don't have the problem. If I am in the main office or another treatment room and my clock says "2:27 pm" I know that all the other rooms are exactly the same. Yes! So in addition to this awesome capability, these clocks are BIG so they are easy to see from across the room in a dimly lit environment. They are also almost completely silent. No loud ticking noise. Also a huge bonus. For us, these were so easy to set up. Just put the battery in, change the time zone to Eastern, make sure Daylight Savings Time was on and they set themselves within an hour. Hung them on the walls with one small nail and we were done. If you need a multi-room synched time clock solution, these should be your ticket. We couldn't be happier with them and we recommend them highly!

Nice

Fantastic clock. Easy to set up. Great look.

Although the packaging has left a small mark on the silver part of the clock I give this clock five stars because the product itself is great. It is light, which you obviously want if it's going to hang on a wall, and very stylish. It took a few hours to adjust itself, as expected, and it keeps a very accurate time like it promises to do.

El reloj funciona perfectamente, se sincroniza en las noches sin problema con la estación de hora atómica en Colorado. Al recibirlo puse la hora manualmente, pero desde esa primera noche el reloj se sincronizó y es preciso hasta los segundos.

The most simple clock for area with timezone changes. Radio sync makes the clock so accurate too.