The Rubik's Clock is a mechanical puzzle invented and patented by Christopher C. Wiggs and Christopher J. Taylor.Patents EP0322085 (1989-06-28), JP1171588 (1989-07-06), GB2213739 (1989-08-23), US4869506 (1989-09-26) 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. 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. Other viable speedsolving methods have been devised that always solve it in 14 moves or less. An example is the "7-Simul" method, 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.
The Rubik's Clock is one of the events recognized by the World Cube Association (WCA). On June 24, 2026, the WCA announced they would be removing Clock from their selection of events sanctioned at official competitions, citing high proneness to incidents, difficulty of holding the event at competitions, spectator friendliness, and a desire to move the organization's identity away from "mechanical puzzles". The last competition to host Clock will be the WCA World Championship 2027.
Combinations 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.
Including pin positions, the total combinations is 1214*16 =20,542,695,432,781,824 (approximately 20.5 quadrillion) combinations.
God's number for Clock is 12.
Notation The puzzle is oriented with 12 o'clock on top, and either side in front. The following moves can be made:
Pin movements 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 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 y2: Flip the puzzle, then move all pins down.
Records 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 2.14 seconds, set at GAN New Zealand Nationals 2026 in Wellington, New Zealand with times of 2.10, (2.07), 2.22, 2.09, and (2.33) seconds.World Cube Association - Records
Top 10 solvers by single solve RankWorld Cube Association Official Clock Rankings - Single Name Result Competition1 Lachlan Gibson 1.53s Hasty Hastings 20252 Brendyn Dunagan 1.60s Agoura Winter 20263 Kyle Jones 1.61s Melbourne Summer 20264 Volodymyr Kapustianskyi 1.64s Moorhead Madness 20255 Antoni Stojek 1.74s Cube Factory League Zgierz 20266 Karl Abarquez 1.84s Greenwoods Summer Overtime 20267 Alessandro Diomampo 1.85s Agoura Winter 20268 Anatolii Turenko 1.87s Back to Kostelec 2025 Max McGill Iowa Championship 202610 Eryk Kasperek 1.90s Polish Championship 2025
Top 10 solvers by Olympic average of 5 solves RankWorld Cube Association Official Clock Rankings - Average Name Result Competition Times1 Lachlan Gibson 2.14s GAN New Zealand Nationals 2026 2.10, (2.07), 2.22, 2.09, (2.33)2 Brendyn Dunagan 2.24s Temecula Valley Winter 2025 2.02, (3.27), (1.93), 2.27, 2.433 Volodymyr Kapustianskyi 2.26s Heartland Championship 2026 2.46, 1.91, (3.32), (1.76), 2.424 Alessandro Diomampo 2.41s Mountain House Open 2026 2.46, 2.35, (2.16), (6.45), 2.435 Kyle Jones 2.42s Melbourne Summer 2026 2.65, (3.70), 2.30, (1.61), 2.32 Antoni Stojek Cube4fun Lublin February 2026 (2.70), 2.35, (2.22), 2.26, 2.647 Eryk Kasperek 2.52s Cube4fun Lublin on WEII 2024 2.44, (3.36), 2.59, (2.40), 2.528 Karl Abarquez 2.55s Greenwoods Clock Clash 2026 2.71, (4.45), 2.67, 2.27, (1.89)9 Ivan ThanhDanh Duong 2.57s North Star Cubing Challenge MN 2026 2.72, (2.18),, 2.47, (3.05), 2.5110 Aaron Jake Wong 2.58s PBs in Palisades Spring 2026 (2.29), 2.79, 2.47, (2.96), 2.48
Top 10 single solves RankWorld Cube Association Official Clock Rankings - Single Name Result Competition1 Lachlan Gibson 1.53s Hasty Hastings 20252 Brendyn Dunagan 1.60s Agoura Winter 20263 Kyle Jones 1.61s Melbourne Summer 20264 Volodymyr Kapustianskyi 1.64s Moorhead Madness 20255 Brendyn Dunagan 1.70s Georgia Championship 20266 Lachlan Gibson 1.74s New Zealand Cubing Decathlon 2025 Antoni Stojek Cube Factory League Zgierz 20268 Volodymyr Kapustianskyi 1.76s Heartland Championship 20269 Brendyn Dunagan 1.77s Agoura Winter 202610 1.80s Rubik's WCA North American Championship 2026
Top 10 Olympic averages of 5 solves RankWorld Cube Association Official Clock Rankings - Single Name Result Competition Times1 Lachlan Gibson 2.14s GAN New Zealand Nationals 2026 2.10, (2.07), 2.22, 2.09, (2.33)2 Brendyn Dunagan 2.24s Temecula Valley Winter 2025 2.02, (3.27), (1.93), 2.27, 2.433 Lachlan Gibson 2.26s 2x2 in Tāmaki Makaurau 2025 2.27, (1.82), (3.01), 2.26, 2.24 Volodymyr Kapustianskyi Heartland Championship 2026 2.46, 1.91, (3.32), (1.76), 2.425 Brendyn Dunagan 2.27s Agoura Winter 2026 2.07, 1.97, (1.60), (DNF), 2.776 Lachlan Gibson 2.28s Puzzling Papatoetoe 2025 (2.20), 2.22, 2.26, 2.36, (2.65)7 2.29s Milford Winter Warm Up 2025 (4.34), 2.57, 2.08, (1.87), 2.218 2.30s New Zealand Cubing Decathlon 2025 1.98, 2.16, 2.77, (2.93), (1.74)9 Volodymyr Kapustianskyi 2.31s Moorhead Madness 2025 2.35, 2.40, 2.18, (3.71), (1.64)10 Lachlan Gibson 2.32s GAN New Zealand Nationals 2026 (2.53), 2.43, 2.36, (1.90), 2.18
Non-human solving 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
External links 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