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. 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.[2]
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".[3] The last competition to host Clock will be the WCA World Championship 2027.[4]
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.[5]
Notation
The puzzle is oriented with 12 o'clock on top, and either side in front. The following moves can be made:[6]
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.[7]
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.[8]
Top 10 solvers by single solve
| Rank[7] | Name | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Template:Flagicon Lachlan Gibson | 1.53s | Template:Flagicon Hasty Hastings 2025 |
| 2 | Template:Flagicon Brendyn Dunagan | 1.60s | Template:Flagicon Agoura Winter 2026 |
| 3 | Template:Flagicon Kyle Jones | 1.61s | Template:Flagicon Melbourne Summer 2026 |
| 4 | Template:Flagicon Volodymyr Kapustianskyi | 1.64s | Template:Flagicon Moorhead Madness 2025 |
| 5 | Template:Flagicon Antoni Stojek | 1.74s | Template:Flagicon Cube Factory League Zgierz 2026 |
| 6 | Template:Flagicon Karl Abarquez | 1.84s | Template:Flagicon Greenwoods Summer Overtime 2026 |
| 7 | Template:Flagicon Alessandro Diomampo | 1.85s | Template:Flagicon Agoura Winter 2026 |
| 8 | Template:Flagicon Anatolii Turenko | 1.87s | Template:Flagicon Back to Kostelec 2025 |
| 9 | Template:Flagicon Eryk Kasperek | 1.90s | Template:Flagicon Polish Championship 2025 |
| 10 | Template:Flagicon Nigel Phang | 1.92s | Template:Flagicon Singapore Pyraminx March 2026 |
Top 10 solvers by Olympic average of 5 solves
| Rank[9] | Name | Result | Competition | Times |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Template:Flagicon Lachlan Gibson | 2.14s | Template:Flagicon GAN New Zealand Nationals 2026 | 2.10, (2.07), 2.22, 2.09, (2.33) |
| 2 | Template:Flagicon Brendyn Dunagan | 2.24s | Template:Flagicon Temecula Valley Winter 2025 | 2.02, (3.27), (1.93), 2.27, 2.43 |
| 3 | Template:Flagicon Volodymyr Kapustianskyi | 2.26s | Template:Flagicon Heartland Championship 2026 | 2.46, 1.91, (3.32), (1.76), 2.42 |
| 4 | Template:Flagicon Alessandro Diomampo | 2.41s | Template:Flagicon Mountain House Open 2026 | 2.46, 2.35, (2.16), (6.45), 2.43 |
| 5 | Template:Flagicon Kyle Jones | 2.42s | Template:Flagicon Melbourne Summer 2026 | 2.65, (3.70), 2.30, (1.61), 2.32 |
| Template:Flagicon Antoni Stojek | Template:Flagicon Cube4fun Lublin February 2026 | (2.70), 2.35, (2.22), 2.26, 2.64 | ||
| 7 | Template:Flagicon Eryk Kasperek | 2.52s | Template:Flagicon Cube4fun Lublin on WEII 2024 | 2.44, (3.36), 2.59, (2.40), 2.52 |
| 8 | Template:Flagicon Karl Abarquez | 2.55s | Template:Flagicon Greenwoods Clock Clash 2026 | 2.71, (4.45), 2.67, 2.27, (1.89) |
| 9 | Template:Flagicon Ivan ThanhDanh Duong | 2.57s | Template:Flagicon North Star Cubing Challenge MN 2026 | 2.72, (2.18),, 2.47, (3.05), 2.51 |
| 10 | Template:Flagicon Aaron Jake Wong | 2.58s | Template:Flagicon PBs in Palisades Spring 2026 | (2.29), 2.79, 2.47, (2.96), 2.48 |
Top 10 single solves
| Rank[10] | Name | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Template:Flagicon Lachlan Gibson | 1.53s | Template:Flagicon Hasty Hastings 2025 |
| 2 | Template:Flagicon Brendyn Dunagan | 1.60s | Template:Flagicon Agoura Winter 2026 |
| 3 | Template:Flagicon Kyle Jones | 1.61s | Template:Flagicon Melbourne Summer 2026 |
| 4 | Template:Flagicon Volodymyr Kapustianskyi | 1.64s | Template:Flagicon Moorhead Madness 2025 |
| 5 | Template:Flagicon Brendyn Dunagan | 1.70s | Template:Flagicon Georgia Championship 2026 |
| 6 | Template:Flagicon Lachlan Gibson | 1.74s | Template:Flagicon New Zealand Cubing Decathlon 2025 |
| Template:Flagicon Antoni Stojek | Template:Flagicon Cube Factory League Zgierz 2026 | ||
| 8 | Template:Flagicon Volodymyr Kapustianskyi | 1.76s | Template:Flagicon Heartland Championship 2026 |
| 9 | Template:Flagicon Brendyn Dunagan | 1.77s | Template:Flagicon Agoura Winter 2026 |
| 10 | 1.80s | Template:Flagicon Rubik's WCA North American Championship 2026 |
Top 10 Olympic averages of 5 solves
| Rank[11] | Name | Result | Competition | Times |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Template:Flagicon Lachlan Gibson | 2.14s | Template:Flagicon GAN New Zealand Nationals 2026 | 2.10, (2.07), 2.22, 2.09, (2.33) |
| 2 | Template:Flagicon Brendyn Dunagan | 2.24s | Template:Flagicon Temecula Valley Winter 2025 | 2.02, (3.27), (1.93), 2.27, 2.43 |
| 3 | Template:Flagicon Lachlan Gibson | 2.26s | Template:Flagicon 2x2 in Tāmaki Makaurau 2025 | 2.27, (1.82), (3.01), 2.26, 2.24 |
| Template:Flagicon Volodymyr Kapustianskyi | Template:Flagicon Heartland Championship 2026 | 2.46, 1.91, (3.32), (1.76), 2.42 | ||
| 5 | Template:Flagicon Brendyn Dunagan | 2.27s | Template:Flagicon Agoura Winter 2026 | 2.07, 1.97, (1.60), (DNF), 2.77 |
| 6 | Template:Flagicon Lachlan Gibson | 2.28s | Template:Flagicon Puzzling Papatoetoe 2025 | (2.20), 2.22, 2.26, 2.36, (2.65) |
| 7 | 2.29s | Template:Flagicon Milford Winter Warm Up 2025 | (4.34), 2.57, 2.08, (1.87), 2.21 | |
| 8 | 2.30s | Template:Flagicon New Zealand Cubing Decathlon 2025 | 1.98, 2.16, 2.77, (2.93), (1.74) | |
| 9 | Template:Flagicon Volodymyr Kapustianskyi | 2.31s | Template:Flagicon Moorhead Madness 2025 | 2.35, 2.40, 2.18, (3.71), (1.64) |
| 10 | Template:Flagicon Lachlan Gibson | 2.32s | Template:Flagicon 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.[12] 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
- ↑ Patents EP0322085 (1989-06-28), JP1171588 (1989-07-06), GB2213739 (1989-08-23), US4869506 (1989-09-26)
- ↑ Template:Cite AV media
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 World Cube Association Official Clock Rankings - Single
- ↑ World Cube Association - Records
- ↑ World Cube Association Official Clock Rankings - Average
- ↑ World Cube Association Official Clock Rankings - Single
- ↑ World Cube Association Official Clock Rankings - Single
- ↑ Template:Cite web
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