Speedsolving Rubik’s Clock Sander Hendrickx last updated: 9jan2006

My customized method to solve the clock… thanks to Stefan Pochmann! I’m basically using the same method as his. At the time of making this small page (sept 2005), my personal best is 9.83 seconds and the best average of 10 clocks is 11.73 seconds. With little math we find out that making 18 clocks show the same hour in a bit over 9 seconds is almost the same as 2 clocks each second :-) Of course, you don’t actually turn one clock at a time, but it does show the potential speed of this method. Also keep in mind this is exactly how I solve the clock. If you plan on getting really fast, it is advisable to modify it to your own likings! The speed limit for solving the clock is somewhere around 8 seconds I think.

Stefan also made a nice page on how to destroy your clock. To clean and lube it that is. I don’t know if it really helps much since I do not yet have a clock of my own at this moment to try it out.

Check the unofficial (practice) and official (set during a tournament) world records and rankings.

So how does it work?

The pictures show what the clock looks like after you have done each step. The little black circles are the pins that are UP, the black bow on a side of the clock is the wheel I turn to do this step. Of course, when more then one pin is up, you can turn more wheels to get the same effect. This is just the way that seemed fastest to me… The hours shown are just examples. The clocks should just show the same hour, any hour.

start your timer (well at least I do :-)) and make a cross of clocks showing the same hour

now turn the cross to 12

flip the entire clock (around the y-axis, so 12 stays on top)

exactly the same as the first 4 steps. So make a cross on this side too. Note that after flipping the clock, the only pin that is up is the exact pin we need. That’s really nice. Make sure you memorize what will be the first move for the backside before you start solving (being during preinspection), so you can do it immediately after flipping the clock.

now we will align the cross with each of the corners. When 3 pins are up, and you turn any of these 3 wheels, all clocks except the 4th corner clock will turn. So what we do is turn 8 clocks till the cross (!) shows the same hour as the one clock that isn’t turning. Just repeat this 4 times and all clocks on this side will show the same hour (not 12 yet).

turn all clocks to 12 and stop the timer :-)

About the clock and some general remarks:

Always keep in mind this is how I solve the clock. It may not be the best way to do it for somebody else!

• thumbs to push the pins down
• index fingers to push the top pins up
• middle fingers to push the bottom pins up

(using middle- and ringfinger respectively might be faster since your index finger is free to turn the wheel that way, but it didn’t feel right for me. Maybe a lot of practice might solve this problem…)

• turn the top wheels with your index fingers
• I turn the bottom (left) wheel with my right thumb.

(this may seem weird too, but for me it’s the most natural way to do it. Also by doing it this way, you will never have to turn the entire clock 90° during the whole solve.)

• during preinspection memorize the first move on the backside so you don’t lose time after flipping.
• often there are lucky cases. Don’t try to exploit them (unless they are really really lucky) since it will distract you from your normal plan, getting you a worse time in the end! Just stick to your normal solving.
• and as with all things you want to be good at, practice makes perfect or something like that!

If you still have some questions feel free to contact me at shendrickx@hotmail.com