Tobar 12459 - Make Your Own Mechanical Clock 31 Pieces,21cm

We purchased this for our 6 year old realising he was not as comfortable with reading analogue time as we had thought (then realising all the working clocks at home were digital format). I didn't want to buy a "pre-school" clock face but rather wanted something more engaging to interest him. This appeared to fit the bill with the challenge of the build and the fact it produced a working time piece. I was a little concerned about the price - more often than not cheap does not mean cheerful. I have to say that I have been pleasantly surprised with this Kit considering some of the previous reviews. I will add at this point that this is not a "toy". It has not been designed to be eagerly toddler handled, dropped, trodden on or violently shaken - it will beak. That said, I am surprised at the quality of the components considering the price and the kit does produce a solid and working clock if the assembled correctly. My 6 year old managed the build under supervision in about 10 minutes with a little help. The instructions are not the clearest (not to Lego standards) but all the detail is there. It probably helps if you're practically minded about such things. Two areas of note in the build: Firstly the white cog attached to the winder mechanism mentioned in previous (negative) reviews - this is a ratchet cog to ensure the winder mechanism is only turned in the correct direction. Study the instructions carefully, it does show you which way round this cog goes. If you put it in the wrong way, you will be unable wind the mechanism correctly without breaking it (see image for correct fitting). Secondly, the one area I had to assist my son was with the connection of the pendulum. The instructions could be clearer here but again all the detail is there. It is important that the white part (two teeth) of the pendulum assembly engages with the white cog inside the clock, otherwise the whole mechanism goes into "freewheel" and time literally flies... (see image for correct fitting). If assembled correctly - it really does work and that is very satisfying. Amazing how simple it all is. The pendulum can be adjusted if the clock is running a little fast or slow. The chime every 15 minutes is a nice touch (the mechanism may need adjusting to ensure this happens on the 12/3/6/9) and overall it looks clean, crisp and modern. My older sons at 8 and 10 years were equally interested in the mechanics of it, working out what each component does, and therefore I do believe it would be suitable for older children. It has a rather noisy "tick tock" due to the plastic mechanism so maybe not for permanent running. I haven't yet tested the extent of the running time but 2 or 3 half twists of the winder provides about 4 hours of run time. The hands can be manually moved to set / change the time which sees all the other cogs move and the chime sounds every 15mins passed. A great science / mechanical model which I will gladly recommend - one of the best buys for under £10 in my opinion.

This kept my little Grand-Son enthralled for days and days before he had to call on Grand-Dad to help him out. With my degree in engineering it took me sometime to work out the diagram, it was very easy to install one of the cogs the wrong way around. Watch out for the cog by the striker, this is easy to get wrong. The striker does move easily up and down to strike the bell, if it doesn't the cog is in the wrong way. The bell is a bad fit and wobbly that could be better but the unit when finished is brilliant and keeps time very well indeed. Well worth the money and fun putting it together. I was elated but then I'm just a big kid!

Unfortunately the first one we received had 3 parts missing so my son (age 7) was disappointed and unable to build this xmas present. Super and swift customer service from Santa's Elves (Amazon) meant a replacement arrived quickly though, and the new one was complete. A numbered/labelled list of parts that should be included would be a useful addition to the instruction leaflet as I had trouble describing which parts were missing to Customer services.The instructions for building this clock aren't the best and could be a bit clearer. My son initially attached the black cog facing the wrong way up so it didn't connect to the other cogs, it's really difficult to see from the instructions which way to put it. I helped him correct this and it all joined up. Apart from this he built it independently and was very proud to have built his own clock!It's great that it's see through so you can see how all the parts interact together, and it keeps time well as long as it's wound regularly. I think that if the cog with the spring (that powers the clock) was see through so the children could see the spring tightening and unwinding, the product would be even better. The brightly coloured parts make it attractive, and I was very pleased to discover that once assembled it can be taken apart and reassembled so that my 5 year old can also have a go at building it (with some assistance). We also liked the chime feature.Overall a great product, fun and educational, and gives kids a real sense of achievement to make their own working clock.

Total waster of money, fun to build and had potential to be great, but the pendulum doesn't regulate the mechanism so it fails entierly at its primary function of keeping time. Very dissapointed 5 year old now who I'll probably struggle to get renegaged with clock building again as a result of this complete let down.

easy to put together and worked, although tended to miss cogs occasionally and race ahead. But value for money and fascinating for a young boy who is mad about clocks.

I bought this to do with my seven year old granddaughter who is learning about cogs and gears at school. She also has an interest in my mechanical clocks.We sat down to make it together and I had to do quite alot ot the assembly myself but she sorted out the part in the order we needed them and did some of the assembly herself.The restult; IT WORKED. The cogs could be seen turning. It had a nice loud tick and it has a single strike on a bell on the quarter. Marvellous for the money.Only down side was it ran very fast and the was no way you could get it to slow down sufficiently without modifying the construction. The other small problem was that when constructed the pendulem and hands are on the outside. The outcome of this was that the box the kit came in was not deep enough to keep the finished clock in, which would have been nice.All in all great value product and in fact I'm going to by another one for my own amusement.