Brookstone clock with 7~segment display

[padler...@gmail.com]

Hi all,

I have this Brookstone “smartset” clock with a blue 7-segment display. One of the segments on one of the digits no longer lights up as seen in the below picture. I’m suspicious that the display is not LED but rather a custom display with backlit segments. I haven’t taken apart the clock yet to investigate, but I’m wondering if anyone is familiar with this clock or has any thoughts on what the display technology might be.

A secondary question is any thoughts on how the clock set itself? It doesn’t use wifi so I imagine it is something akin to using a WWVB radio broadcast.

[Tom Katt]

Hard to tell what type of display is used from the photos, but I would have thought backlit lcd.  But lcd's usually share a single backlight, so either the lcd segment has issues or it is some kind of led display.  You'll have to open it up and take a peek.

I'm pretty sure that is in fact a WWVB radio signal clock - they were quite common at the time.  I've actually just got a WWVB kick myself and while researching I learned that the old AM protocol was updated to include phase modulation in 2012 - the PM format apparently provides better reception and additional data but requires the receiver to be PM capable.  The new format is backwards compatible with the legacy AM transmission format.  I feel old think that this 'update' occurred back in 2012 and is new to me lol.  On a side note, I recently purchased an Everset ES100 WWVB receiver kit from Canaduino (EverSet ES100 WWVB BPSK Atomic Clock Starter Kit - CANADUINO®)...  haven't got around to wplaying with it yet but seems like fun.  Though in this digital day and age I suspect that radio transmission is likely to be obsoleted entirely.  People will realize their error when Armageddon comes and analog receivers are the only things left working lol.

Interested to find out what's up with that display...

[padler...@gmail.com]

Thanks, Tom. I’ll keep you posted on what I find when I open it up. I’ll be surprised if it turns out to be LED only because of the shape and size of the digits and the way they appear through the front of the case. I’d put a bet down on electroluminescent on a hunch. 

Thanks for sharing the link for the EverSet kit. It does look like fun to play with. I just wonder what the 🍊 tariffs will do to the cost of shipping one into the U.S.  With the “processing” fees charged by the carriers on top of the tariff itself, it could close to double the cost of the unit itself!

Cheers,

Randy 

On Nov 28, 2025, at 2:15 PM, Tom Katt <tomk...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hard to tell what type of display is used from the photos, but I would have thought backlit lcd.  But lcd's usually share a single backlight, so either the lcd segment has issues or it is some kind of led display.  You'll have to open it up and take a peek.

I'm pretty sure that is in fact a WWVB radio signal clock - they were quite common at the time.  I've actually just got a WWVB kick myself and while researching I learned that the old AM protocol was updated to include phase modulation in 2012 - the PM format apparently provides better reception and additional data but requires the receiver to be PM capable.  The new format is backwards compatible with the legacy AM transmission format.  I feel old think that this 'update' occurred back in 2012 and is new to me lol.  On a side note, I recently purchased an Everset ES100 WWVB receiver kit from Canaduino (EverSet ES100 WWVB BPSK Atomic Clock Starter Kit - CANADUINO®)...  haven't got around to wplaying with it yet but seems like fun.  Though in this digital day and age I suspect that radio transmission is likely to be obsoleted entirely.  People will realize their error when Armageddon comes and analog receivers are the only things left working lol.

Interested to find out what's up with that display...

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