Hope this is a problem others may have/had and suggestions/recommendations are forthcoming. Thanks for any attention given. Problem: when I got my 2003 Hunter 306 in 2007 (I am 3rd owner, but it was a very like-new boat), I received an offer for 20% of Weems and Plath thingies. (I did buy nav items (plotters, a case, etc.) and these were a fair buy. I also bought chrome Endurance 085 (the small ones, 85cm diameter) cabin instruments in a set because I thought that would be cool-looking interior cabin decor...and possibly useful on occasion. Yeah, I know I bought about the bottom of the line - and I'm sort of a silver or chrome type guy and not a brass guy, having polished brass enough in the Army! - so here I am with Endurance 085 Barometer (works OK or seems to - need to tap it a bit, but I expect that) and a 'Comfort Indicator' (that's a split thermo/humidity indicator - also works OK), and a Clock that is really, truly lousy! The clock is what I really have grief with. ALL these items were over -priced (even with the 20% discount they gave me!) and they are made in China and chrome on top of plastic. They look OK after 7 years, but the clock has never worked well. I complained to them in the first year that the clock - battery operated quartz - uses an uncommon N-sized battery. This is the same 1.5 DC voltage as a AA battery, but the N battery is half the length. The clock body (small about 4 inches across) COULD have accommodated a cheap Michael's-type hobby clock movement with a AA cell, but the d**ned item has this movement that only takes a N cell. That battery is NOT readily available at drugstores, Wallmartski, or grocery stores, but IS at Radio Shack (if you still have one of those nearby) but costs about 5 bucks per battery! Amazon does have them, but that is inconvenient, if not lower-priced. The problem is that the N-cell battery only keeps the clock running for about a month. Then you have to replace it! And it always ran noticeably slow! I complained to W&P, but they had no sympathy nor solution. I have lived with it until about a month or so ago when I saw that my clock had the hour hand swingin' free! It had come loose. So I contacted W&P and they allowed me to send it in....nearly a month later they informed me they'd fix it under warranty. (The Weems and Plath literature says the clock and the movement have a lifetime warranty.) I just got it back, and they also included a battery with it. Apparently the clock was sent to Conant Custom Brass, a division of W&P, and their return invoice (no cost) last week said, 'Min Hand is los. Clock is not keeping good time. Replaced mvmt. tested. keep good time.' I put in the battery and it started up. I was moderately happy. But today, going to put it back on the mount in the boat, I noticed that, though I set it to the time on Saturday - about 1 PM - when I went to the boat today (a day later, Sunday), the clock said 2 PM when it was about 3:17! Still broken. Still slow. Does anyone have suggestions for a nice small clock to stick in the boat cabin? I have just spent a wasted afternoon trying to search for 4-inch (or 5-inch) wall mounted clocks (battery quartz) or suitable digital one (date and time and whatever is OK) but do not see anything in round small cocks that fit or would look good. I really will not pay hundreds for a brass ship's instrument. I'm just a day-sailor and inland cruiser and who would like to be able to see the time in the cabin wall. Any one with had similar issues and can recommend a wall clock? Certainly don't want to buy W&P.
It's, of course, brass, but bottom of the line, too, don't recall the make.
