who put the annoying in?

I bought a wood block clock for $10 today and I have to take it back because they put in the "feature" that it would, every 10 seconds, switch from time to date with no way to turn it off. I was so disappointed I even opened it to see if I could swap the guts for a saner clock, but they seem to have glued the display to the front pannel. If I had more courage and time, I might figure out which cap I had to snip. The board is actually pretty hackable, but the chip is unlabled.

Sadness.

Perhaps I should try to make my own housing.