Rubik's Clock
The Rubik's Clock is a mechanical puzzle invented and patented by Christopher C. Wiggs and Christopher J. Taylor.[1] The Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik bought the patent from them to market the product under his name. It was first marketed in 1988.
The Rubik's Clock is a two-sided puzzle, each side presenting nine clocks to the puzzler. There are four dials, one at each corner of the puzzle, each allowing the corresponding corner clock to be rotated directly. (The corner clocks, unlike the other clocks, rotate on both sides of the puzzle simultaneously and can never be operated independently. Thus, the puzzle contains only 14 independent clocks.)
There are also four pins which span both sides of the puzzle; each pin arranged such that if it is "in" on one side, it is "out" on the other. The state of each pin (in or out) determines whether the adjacent corner clock is mechanically connected to the three other adjacent clocks on the front side or on the back side: thus the configuration of the pins determines which sets of clocks can be turned simultaneously by rotating a suitable dial.
The aim of the puzzle is to set all nine clocks to 12 o'clock (straight up) on both sides of the puzzle simultaneously. A method to do so is to start by constructing a cross on both sides (at 12 o’clock) and then solving the corner clocks individually.
The Rubik's Clock is listed as one of the 17 WCA events, with records for fastest time to solve one puzzle, and the fastest average time to solve 5 puzzles (discarding the slowest and fastest times). Viable speedsolving methods have been devised that always solve it in 14 moves or less. An example is "7-Simul", which involves performing seven pairs of moves on the front and back of the clock simultaneously and requires mental calculation from the puzzle's initial position to determine some moves. God's number for Clock is 12.[2]
Combinations
[edit]Since there are 14 independent clocks, with 12 settings each, there are a total of =1,283,918,464,548,864 possible combinations for the clock faces. This does not count for the number of pin positions.
Notation
[edit]The puzzle is oriented with 12 o'clock on top, and either side in front. The following moves can be made:[3]
Pin movements
[edit]- UR (top-right): Move the top-right pin up.
- DR (bottom-right): Move the bottom-right pin up.
- DL (bottom-left): Move the bottom-left pin up.
- UL (top-left): Move the top-left pin up.
- U (both top): Move both top pins up.
- R (both right): Move both right pins up.
- D (both bottom): Move both bottom pins up.
- L (both left): Move both left pins up.
- ALL (all): Move all pins up.
Wheel movements
[edit]- X+ (X clockwise turns): Turn a dial next to an up-position pin clockwise X times, then move all pins down.
- X− (X counter-clockwise turns): Turn a dial next to an up-position pin counter-clockwise X times, then move all pins down.
Puzzle rotation
[edit]- y2: Flip the puzzle, then move all pins down.
Records
[edit]The world record for single solve is held by Lachlan Gibson of New Zealand with a time of 1.53 seconds, set at Hasty Hastings 2025 in Hastings, New Zealand.
The world record for Olympic average of five solves is held by Lachlan Gibson of New Zealand with an average of 2.26 seconds, set at 2x2 in Tāmaki Makaurau 2025 in Auckland, New Zealand with times of 2.27, (1.82), (3.01), 2.26, and 2.24 seconds.[4]
Top 10 solvers by single solve
[edit]| Rank[5] | Name | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Lachlan Gibson |
1.53s | Hasty Hastings 2025
|
| 2 |  Volodymyr Kapustianskyi |
1.64s | Moorhead Madness 2025
|
| 3 | Brendyn Dunagan |
1.84s | Mission Viejo Fall 2025
|
| 4 |  Anatolii Turenko |
1.87s |  Back to Kostelec 2025
|
| 5 |  Karl Liam L. Abarquez |
1.91s | Makati Heroes Speedcubing 2025
|
| 6 |  Kyle Jones |
1.96s | Australian Nationals 2025
|
| 7 |  Mick Boekema |
2.00s | Lente in Lent 2025
|
| 8 |  Eryk Kasperek |
2.01s | Cube4fun Tylmanowa Autumn 2025
|
| 9 | Sebastian Stone |
2.02s | Davis Summer 2025
|
| 10 |  Nigel Phang |
2.06s |  Twist & Fries Johor Bahru 2025
|
Top 10 solvers by Olympic average of 5 solves
[edit]| Rank[6] | Name | Result | Competition | Times |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lachlan Gibson |
2.26s | 2x2 in Tāmaki Makaurau 2025 |
2.27, (1.82), (3.01), 2.26, 2.24 |
| 2 | Volodymyr Kapustianskyi |
2.31s | Moorhead Madness 2025 |
2.35, 2.40, 2.18, (3.71), (1.64) |
| 3 | Eryk Kasperek |
2.52s | Cube4fun Lublin on WEII 2024 |
2.44, (3.36), 2.59, (2.40), 2.52 |
| 4 | Kyle Jones |
2.55s | Coffs Big Banana Bonanza 2025 |
2.81, 2.34, (DNF), (2.20), 2.49 |
| 5 | Brendyn Dunagan |
2.64s | Nub Open Mission Viejo Spring 2025 |
(2.36), 2.46, (DNF), 2.86, 2.61 |
| 6 | Alessandro Diomampo
|
2.65s | Benicia Open 2025 |
2.35, (3.09), 2.55, (2.24), 3.06 |
| 7 |  Caleb Wolf Dunn |
2.68s | Rubik's WCA World Championship 2025 |
(4.44), 2.71, 2.70, (2.56), 2.63 |
| Karl Liam L. Abarquez |
Please Don't Flip Katipunan 2025 |
(2.14), (3.27), 2.75, 2.82, 2.46 | ||
| 9 | Fiona Bao |
2.73s | Ephrata Fall 2025 |
2.70, 2.88, 2.61, (2.36), (2.93) |
| 10 |  Aarni Salakari |
2.75s | Puzzling Puzzles Vantaa 2025 |
2.73, (6.20), 2.70, (2.60), 2.83 |
Top 10 single solves
[edit]| Rank[7] | Name | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lachlan Gibson |
1.53s | Hasty Hastings 2025
|
| 2 | Volodymyr Kapustianskyi |
1.64s | Moorhead Madness 2025
|
| 3 | Lachlan Gibson |
1.74s | New Zealand Cubing Decathlon 2025
|
| 4 | 1.82s | 2x2 in Tāmaki Makaurau 2025
| |
| Puzzling Papatoetoe 2025
| |||
| 6 | Brendyn Dunagan |
1.84s | Mission Viejo Fall 2025
|
| 7 | Lachlan Gibson |
1.86s | A New Year in Auckland 2025
|
| 8 | Anatolii Turenko |
1.87s | Back to Kostelec 2025
|
| Lachlan Gibson |
Milford Winter Warm Up 2025
| ||
| 10 | Brendyn Dunagan |
1.90s | Agoura Side Events Day 2025
|
Top 10 Olympic averages of 5 solves
[edit]| Rank[8] | Name | Result | Competition | Times |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lachlan Gibson |
2.26s | 2x2 in Tāmaki Makaurau 2025 |
2.27, (1.82), (3.01), 2.26, 2.24 |
| 2 | 2.28s | Puzzling Papatoetoe 2025 |
(2.20), 2.22, 2.26, 2.36, (2.65) | |
| 3 | 2.29s | Milford Winter Warm Up 2025 |
(4.34), 2.57, 2.08, (1.87), 2.21 | |
| 4 | 2.30s | New Zealand Cubing Decathlon 2025 |
1.98, 2.16, 2.77, (2.93), (1.74) | |
| 5 | Volodymyr Kapustianskyi |
2.31s | Moorhead Madness 2025 |
2.35, 2.40, 2.18, (3.71), (1.64) |
| 6 | Lachlan Gibson |
2.36s | New Zealand Cubing Decathlon 2025 |
2.38, 2.04, (4.31), (1.98), 2.67 |
| 7 | 2.38s | Auckland Autumn 2025 |
2.14, (6.07), 2.57, 2.43, (2.10) | |
| 8 |  Volodymyr Kapustianskyi |
2.39s | Grand Forks 2024 |
(2.96), 2.46, (2.24), 2.29, 2.43 |
| Volodymyr Kapustianskyi |
South Dakota Playhouse 2025 |
2.32, 2.34, (1.91), (3.76), 2.51 | ||
| 10 | Lachlan Gibson |
2.43s | Auckland Autumn 2025 |
2.35, (3.16), (2.10), 2.49, 2.46 |
Non-human solving
[edit]On Nov 21, 2024, a robot developed by Erez Borenshtein achieved a Guinness World Record by solving a Rubik's Clock in 0.443 seconds. This accomplishment was officially recognized by Guinness World Record as the fastest time for a robot to solve a Rubik's Clock. The record is documented on the Guinness World Records website.
References
[edit]- ^ Patents EP0322085 (1989-06-28), JP1171588 (1989-07-06), GB2213739 (1989-08-23), US4869506 (1989-09-26)
- ^ "Rubik's Clock has now been solved!". www.cube20.org. March 4, 2025. Retrieved 2025-03-04.
- ^ "WCA Regulations | World Cube Association". www.worldcubeassociation.org. February 1, 2023. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
- ^ World Cube Association - Records
- ^ World Cube Association Official Clock Rankings - Single
- ^ World Cube Association Official Clock Rankings - Average
- ^ World Cube Association Official Clock Rankings - Single
- ^ World Cube Association Official Clock Rankings - Single
External links
[edit]- Unofficial Records Speedsolving.com's page of unofficial records for many puzzles including Rubik's Clock
- Real Genius Computer game implementation of Rubik's Clock for the Commodore Amiga, released in 1989
- https://www.worldcubeassociation.org/results/rankings/clock/average
- https://www.worldcubeassociation.org/results/rankings/clock/single?show=100+persons
- https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/649381-fastest-robot-to-solve-a-rubiks-clock Non-Human Solving, By Erez Borenshtein