I bought a used "big" clock off eBay. Plugged it in, assuming it would work; reconnected the battery. Didn't work. Tested it with wires stuck in the plug-in holes; nothing. My old clock, tested the same way, works in every way except the hands don't go anywhere when they tick.

Sent the eBay clock back to the seller, after telling him it didn't work. He sent another one, plus the one I sent back to him, with a note that "for some reason" the one I sent back didn't work.

This second clock, I can't get to do anything at all, either, and he says they both worked when he took them out. Wonder if he didn't disconnect the battery when he took them out, or if maybe I'm overlooking something. He's got 300+ 100% positive feedback.

All the clocks, including my original one, are VDO 88 471 105

Took the first one to Radio Shack, thinking maybe I could replace a condenser or somesuch, like I've seen you Brickboarders talk about for the *small* clocks. They said it could be any number of those electronic components, and I know absolutely nothing about clocks. Starting to think maybe it's not worth all this trouble.