Kit Cat Klock Gentlemen The Original (Classic Black)

The Kit Cat Clock has been an American classic for decades. It's funny, cute and maybe too tacky for some folks but a lot of people (like me) love it. I read a lot of other customers' reviews before buying this and I recommend that you read some of the high rated reviews if you are planning to buy it so you know the "tricks" to getting it to work. It is somewhat fragile and it takes care to open it without damaging it, removing the foam insert, installing the batteries and putting the back part on again. You need to get the top of the back (up by the ears) in first and gently snap the panel in. It is also a good idea to use a screw rather than a nail to mount it since the screw should be more stable and you can adjust the small distance between the clock back and the wall as necessary to keep the tail assembly moving. You will also need to adjust the vertical angle a bit to keep the tail motion going. But I was very pleasantly surprised to see that, with careful preparation and installation, the krazy thing really works. The wagging tail assembly isn't even powered by a motor but just uses magnetic repulsion to keep the tail pendulum moving but it has continued to work for months now without any adjustment. It also keeps good time - just remember to only move the minute hand to set the time or you will probably break it. It really looks like a smaller version of the old AC electric Kit Cat Clock that I remember my aunt and uncle had in their house decades ago and the box says it's made in the USA. Good stuff!

I am obsessed with this clock. It is so cute, the size is a little over 15 inches tall with the tail. The clock hands were not attached and were tricky to put on but overall not a big deal. The condition was nice and it was packaged well for shipping so it’s still in mint shape. It also comes with an authenticity pamphlet inside the box which was nice. Accurate clock and not too loud.

First off I have had Kit Kat Klocks for effor!! I always remember we had one when I was growing up that was electric. Who knows how old it was. It was just the standard black clock with white numerals, hands, and graphics.. And out of the left side, looking at the clock, a white cord came out and plugged into the electrical outlet. Never any issues, only resetting twice a year at the time change and on the rare times that the power went out. I always thought the eyes and the tail went in different direction. Example, when the eyes went to the right, the tail went to the left, and when the tail went to the right, the eyes went to the left. But I could just be remembering that incorrectly. That original electric also seemed to move more slowly, and it did make more noise. Supposedly, that is why the California clock company decided to make them with battery, but they still make noise. Anyway, once that original one stopped working, I replaced it in about 1995 with a new red one. Photo is attached, as I can only attach one video per review…. I’ve never had any issues with it, though it is not nearly as heavy or sturdy as the original. The back cover is challenging to take off and put back on, because you do have to fit it in the ears and then snap it around the bottom of the opening for the tail. Anyway, only one little pointy piece on an ear after all this time is getting bad. If I could’ve uploaded the video of the original red clock, you could see in the video that the red one seems to move more slowly and smoothly. It may just be because the batteries are older. The clock takes 2C batteries, which are sometimes difficult to find. I think Duracell works the best …Looking at the clock from the back the battery on the right controls the clock timekeeping function. And half of the power from that battery goes to the mechanism that makes the eyes and the tail move. The battery on the left is 100% devoted to the mechanism for movement. I’m just pointing that out, because it will be possible that your clock stops keeping time, but the tail and eyes still move. Yes, it can be finicky. For whatever reason, the clock sometimes shifts position on the wall and the tail will be banging into one side, making a louder distinct sound. But you just have to play it by eye/ear and readjust the clock every so often. I bought the new one in white for my mom. She had a schoolhouse clock, with the octagon face behind glass and then the pendulum below behind glass that swung back-and-forth that was electric in the kitchen for many years. It finally broke, and I couldn’t find anything else that would work for her The new white one came today, I put in two brand new batteries and put it on the wall and have had no issues. I just use a regular nail, and not a screw like some people say, and I had no idea that you could put a little silicone or oil, so I’ve never done that. I’ve attached the video of the white clock for comparison. So far, so good! And we’ll see how it goes. I think I still am going to need to work on adjusting it so that the eyes and tail do the optimum movement. Just remember when you’re resetting the time to only adjust by the larger minute hand and the smaller hour hand will follow. Never turn the smaller hour hand. And never go back ways or counterclockwise, which is tempting when you fall back an hour.! That will really mess up the clock. The only thing I would wish for is that there was still an electric option. Even if they still wanted to use a battery for the quartz timekeeping portion, which could probably go down to a double a. And then have the electric cord that would do an electric motor. But, that’s just a wish. Like I said with the older red clock, I’ve never had any issues. I’ll try to remember to come back and post an update.

This is a great looking piece and a bit challenging to get working. This is made of plastic and I am not sue if the original version was, but it is fine. It requires 2 C batteries for the time which seems like overkill, but maybe it helps with weight somehow. The tail wagging and eye movement are one simple mechanism that is powered by a magnet so it doesnt use any battery at all. It seems pretty finicky to get working. It has to be centered left and right as well as the top have to be in perfect alignment. After playing with it for quite some time, here are my suggestions. First, just hold it in the air until you get the tail wagging consistently, then you can see how it needs to sit and get a feel for the angles. I think the one suggestion in a review was to use a screw instead of a nail, thats probably a good idea to give adjustment on the ridges of the screw. If you use a nail, try not to angle it up to much as that will make the clock slide back. The other trick I found is once you hang it, get the tail wagging and 1st adjust the bottom left or right, you will notice if the eyes track one way or the other. They need to track in the center, so adjust left or right to make that happen, next, gently pull the head away from the wall or closer to the wall in order to keep the tail wagging. Using this technique I am able to get it working every time. At one point, I also taped a nickel or a penny on the bottom of the tail to give just a bit more weight to the pendulum. Im not sure if that helped or not, but I left it on. This was a present for my wife and she absolutely loves it. I personally thought it is a bit high of a price point, but its worth every penny because she loves it!

You will be super impressed with the item packaging when your order arrives. The box is lovely and has some good historical tidbits printed all over it that make you feel like you bought something substantial. Once you open the box though, the first thing you will notice is that this clock is a hollow shell of thin, cheap feeling plastic. I spent hours trying to get this clock running like, well, clockwork! I did eventually, but it took some serious internet sleuthing to figure out for an item brand new off the shelf. After several attempts to get it going, I checked the Doctor Kit-Cat videos from the website, and followed all the instructions. The darned clock still wouldn't wag its tail for more than an hour or so, despite the clock keeping time. I then switched to forums and eventually found a thread that recommended adjusting the length of the screw in the wall. Start at shortest length, and keep adjusting outwards until it works. The clock has a minimal degree of error in its vertical levelness. The mechanism requires an unwavering balance to keep the very weak magnetism even, and the tail wagging. Even though your wall is most likely level, the internals of the clock are often not. This actually worked for me! I was feeling pretty burned before I saw this one particular post and tried it out. Once the clock is ticking away, it doesn't really matter that it is cheapo quality. You don't touch it on the wall. It looks great, and works like it should. It's a delicate, finicky thing, but I really love it now that I understand how to make it work! (Edit) It stopped working again after a few days. This time the tail and clock would stop overnight. When the clock stops, it's a power issue, right? I strapped those darned batteries in with electrical tape, and haven't had the tail stop wagging since. It's been going for over a week straight. The clock itself stops every morning at 9:40. It doesn't happen at 9:40 pm though. Just 9:40 AM. That doesn't make sense! I took off a star as this is getting ridiculous. It's not a big deal to move the minute hand around until the clock is correct again, but why do I need to? What a silly thing.

Great quality and it came looking like it was basically brand new, still in the box with all paperwork. Although it is pricy for a plastic clock, it’s adorable and I’m very happy with it. It looks lovely and was easy to assemble.

So I purchased three clocks and all have encountered the same issues. Either they are too loud or they stop moving after a day or two. I was able to resolve both of these problems. I do wish they told you in the instructions how to troubleshoot, but I have figured out a way, and I hope to help others the same. Try to do these 3 things if you are frustrated with your clock. 1. If you use a nail in the wall, the clock has a tendency to slip head down wards which should be fine, but I have found that with all of the clocks that I used a nail, they all stopped wagging the motion after a little while. If you switch to a screw, it will keep the position of the clock in place and it would not slip head forward. I believe this causes the movement issue to go away. The reason here is the clock should be completely flush with the wall, this helps the movement. 2. You should probably use a level. To get these perfect you should use a level. 3. To help with the noise being too loud I found that if I used a very light silicone lubricant and applied just a tiny drop to the eye of the lower and upper portion that holds it in place as well as a tiny drop to the eye stems that rub against the black holder things the clock almost made no noise. The eyes is what’s causing all the noise and by putting some light silicone lubricant in those areas my noise completely went away. 4. Lastly the lubrication of the eyes completely smoothes out the animation motion and helps with the animation to never stop if you followed all the steps above. That is all it takes. I wonder if this company should take a note and do something about it as it can help a lot of frustrated people, I know it helped me, I thought I had to return all 3 clocks back but nope all good. By the way, people are complaining about cheap quality for the price, you have to understand that this is a product made in US. Of course it will not be as cheap as a Chinese product. Same with a UK product being made in UK. People literally can’t read that it’s made in its own country, seriously. Other that that it’s a very cool clock, a legend and I’m totally glad to have 3 of them.

Took a few times to work. It kept on stopping even with new batteries. However, now it’s been working nonstop. Very cute and keeps the time.

Product came as described, came fast and in time. Was a bit difficult to get the tail and eyes moving at the start but once they started it kept going.

Très belle et originale avec ses yeux particuliers mais aussi assez bruyante !

Zegar działa (od roku go posiadam) i pięknie się prezentuje.

Klockan är väldigt fin. Tyvärr slutade svansen och ögonen röra sig efter några dagar.

A bit flimsy to be honest but I have no regrets buying it and it still (after a year and 2 movings) hangs up on my wall and works as it should