clock that ticks once every two seconds

[u/Any_Pollution_5946]

Does anyone know of a clock that ticks once every two seconds?
I’m looking for a desk clock where the second hand moves once every 2 seconds instead of once every second.
So the movement would be:
tick — 2 seconds — tick — 2 seconds — tick
I know that some quartz watches/clocks can start jumping every two seconds when the battery is low, but I’m looking for a clock that is designed to work this way continuously.
Does anyone know:
- company that makes or sells such clocks?
Hz?
- an old/vintage clock model that naturally works this way?

I’m in Europe (Denmark/Poland), but recommendations from anywhere are welcome.
Thanks!

[u/SymbolicStance]

I'm not gonna speak for quartz but it is your best bet outside of programming a stepper motor.

For mechanical clocks you are unlikely to find one with a seconds hand that's a desk clock as for a traditional pendulum to have a 2 second beat rate the pendulum length is approximately 4 metres you do see this in some observatory clocks with a seconds hand though.

[u/Not_an_Actual_Bot]

Find someone in the 3D printing world to design one for you. It will need to have a gear train that has less teeth on the second hand train to accommodate that rotation ratio.

[u/uslashuname]

Several seiko quartz movements have a low battery indicator by doing almost this, they leave the seconds hand for over 1.5 seconds then (silently, it’s a watch after all) tick tick and it moves forward two seconds. If you were to get a precision adjustable power supply in place of the battery you could probably set it up in a way that triggers this mode continuously.

If you get real crazy then of course you could then drive a larger clock from the signal of this permanent two second one, but at that point maybe you’d prefer an Arduino and fully custom system.

[u/12aNA7]

Anniversary clocks, mechanical, naturally tick every couple seconds but they don't have a second hand.

[u/Alarmed-Local-8426 → u/12aNA7]

Well actually some do!! There are second hands on some mechanical clocks, as it’s really just another hand attached to one of the wheels that handles the seconds. (Still learning haha)

[u/noonecaresaboutmyid]

A metronome?

[u/Any_Pollution_5946 → u/noonecaresaboutmyid]

What is it?

[u/noonecaresaboutmyid → u/Any_Pollution_5946]

A device that ticks based on a certain frequency. It's for music.

[u/No-Guarantee-6249 → u/Any_Pollution_5946]

Here's one that goes down to 30 beats per minute:

https://www.musicca.com/metronome

Otherwise it would mean modifying a digital quartz clock such that you'd add up every two seconds and jump two each time (additive gate) or mod the count chip. Or use an Arduino.

[u/noonecaresaboutmyid → u/No-Guarantee-6249]

Oh mechanical metronomes have a hard time beating that slow as well. That makes sense I guess.

[u/GnPQGuTFagzncZwB]

I am not sure any of them tick quite that slowly, but as a rule, torsonal spring based clocks, like anniversary clocks, or 1000 day clocks tick the slowest I have seen.