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[Urist Da Vinci]

http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2011/06/the_clock_in_th.php

Sounds impressive, but I imagine something will happen to stop it from working before then.

[Oliolli]

I wouldn't wonder if some vandal just went there and broke it on purpose.

[AutomataKittay]

Bet if it get left alone, it won't work for even ten years. Murphy's law 

[sneakey pete]

hopefully they'd done their research to get the teeth to not wear, and the bearings to also not wear without any external lubrication. Only other thing i could think of would be water/roots/dust getting in and clogging the mechanism. apart rom that i could see it lasting for a long time

[Urist Da Vinci]

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CEEQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2F2008%2F02%2F28%2Foldest-work-clock-oped-time08-cx_po_0229salisbury.html&ei=4zsHTvmbIKbYiAK5gsDODQ&usg=AFQjCNHKJU2tcZarBjWNCy2lT8xDy94wEg

TLDR; The oldest clock that is working today, which was built just over 600 years ago (in the 14th century), was not running continuously and required maintenance/new parts in order to work.

[Flaede]

I heard about this ages ago. It's good to see the project is still around and much farther along, it seems.
Here's their official page - http://longnow.org/ - it seems most of that article was lifted from the introduction there.

What I particularly like is the Orrery stuff.

hopefully they'd done their research to get the teeth to not wear, and the bearings to also not wear without any external lubrication. Only other thing i could think of would be water/roots/dust getting in and clogging the mechanism. apart rom that i could see it lasting for a long time

Here's what their official page has to say about that:

Metals in contact with each other over those time scales can fuse – defeating the whole purpose of an ongoing timepiece. Dissimilar metals in contact can eat each other in galvanic corrosion. To counteract these tendencies some of the key moving parts of the Clock are non-metal — they are stone and hi-tech ceramics.

Ceramics will outlast most metals. We have found shards of clay pots 17,000 years old. And modern ceramics can be as hard as diamonds. All the bearings in the Clock will be engineered ceramic. Because these bearings are so hard, and rotate at very low speed, they require no lubrication – which normally attracts grit and eventually cause wear.

metal just does not fit the specs required for certain parts, apparently.

[Oliolli]

Bet if it get left alone, it won't work for even ten years. Murphy's law 

They get it into the mountain, bolt it in place etc. then notice there is a pile of screws on the table.

[Kogan Loloklam]

You know, I can just see it now. A future civilization 10,000 years from now in a panic because the chimes are about to repeat, signalling the end of the world.

[Sizik]

Also, it doesn't update the display unless someone cranks it, so there's little unnecessary movement.

[Dae]

It's a massive project and an awesome idea !
Yet I don't recall reading about any estimation of when it will be complete. Did I miss something ?

[sneakey pete]

You know, I can just see it now. A future civilization 10,000 years from now in a panic because the chimes are about to repeat, signalling the end of the world.

That thought came to me last night as i was going to bed again. Mayan calandar all over again