Nearly Worthless Science Report - battery powered analog clocks

The cube next to mine has been mostly uncapped for about 4 months. Sometime toward the begging of the four months the battery powered analog clock handing on the wall in the cube had become stuck at [something] at 45 seconds ( right at the *9*) with the second hand ticking but falling back to the same position each tick. I conjecture that if the clock was laid flat it would continue to run since it do not have to overcome gravity. I was correct! However, in the two hours it has been running it is now 15 minutes slow.

Several of us cube dwellers want to take this conjure further. My full conjecture is this:

1)Most battery powered analog clocks with second hands hanging vertically will stop keeping time somewhere near when the second hand reaches the 9. The reasoning is that according the my memory of calculus and trigonometry, the second hand has the most gravity to over come right at the *9*.
2) Battery powered clocks with second hands laying horizontal will keep time longer than hanging vertical.


I am most interested in conjecture #1. Send in the time when your battery powered analog clocks stops keeping time.

Most people would just replace the batteries, but I have to ask why. This is the first topic of what I hope to be many on my blog on nearly worthless science.