While I am very happy with my purchase and this is such a beautiful clock, I am unhappy with the instructions. Basically, it's one line saying put one double AA battery in the unit. It fails to tell you what to do with the other battery insert. When I put the three batteries into the unit, the clock's gears worked (didn't work with only one double AA battery). So I put only one more double AA battery and now the gears work. If I put two, the clock sped up and did not tell the right time. So beware if you purchase!