I used to use my mobile phone as an alarm clock. But yesterday, it really pissed me off. It failed to turn on and didn’t wake me up. So I decided to get a more reliable alarm clock. Behold! http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00009KWES/qid=1090312557/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i4_xgl/202-3455149-7893436
http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00009KWES.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
It’s a beauty! It has a wound mechanism so it doesn’t need batteries! I love it! It should be in my hands in the next two days!
heheh
Just don’t forget to wind it up. I have a mantle clock that the chimes and clock works are on two different springs. If you forget to wind the chime spring, the clock doesn’t chime.
I had something like that for years, except mine was copper-colored.
Today, I use a battery-powered Japanese talking alarm clock. Push the button, & it speaks, telling you the time. Great, if you’re as nearsighted as I am, & you want to know what time it is withou hunting for your glasses.
The alarm is the sound of a rooster crowing. 
Excessively kwaii, I know, but hey, it’s fun.
I used to have one of those. The tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick drove me insane!
But it was really cool looking. Then one day after I’d had it about a weelk my boyfriend over-wound it.
On the one hand, I was pissed, and on the other I was happy to go buy a digital and escape the ticking.
How often do I have to wind it? And is the ticking really that loud? 
My mantle clock is a seven day…which means you wind it once a week. That clock looks like it might need winding once a day. Like before you go to sleep at night.
Yes, the ticking can be quite loud at night when their isn’t any background noise to drown it out. If the stereo or TV is on you don’t notice it, however turn everything off to go to sleep and all you hear is tick, tick, tick, tick.
:smack: ack! there…not their!
My mom still uses all kinds of old crap like this. She even has one of those old phones that hangs vertically on the wall, just one step ahead of the one where you hold the cup to your ear and talk into the little horn thing.
At the cabin we have a Big Ben alarm clock. My mom and dad have one at home also. Until I was 15 I didn’t realize there was any other type alarm clock.
The tickticktickticktick is actually quite comforting to me. Since I bought one of those Felix the cat clocks, which makes an audible ticktick, I find that I tend to nod off easier.
Dog80- regarding winding the clock. It’s all about repetition. Always wind it at the same time (as you’re setting it at night, after you turn the ringer off).
I used a Big Ben for years, and the ticking is very comforting after you get used to it…really helps you get to sleep, very hynpotic. I still have a wind-up clock that I save for power failures and Absolutely, Positively, Must Wake-up On Time days as a back-up to my clock-radio. My routine was always to take the clock with me into the bathroom while I brushed my teeth, and then walk into the kitchen, make sure the time was set (by checking with the kitchen clock) wind it, set the alarm, get my drink of water (kitchen water tasted better than bathroom water) and off to bed.
::::sigh::::
Oh, for the days when I actually had a routine, and not a dozen chores to finish before bed!
