Sometime last year I posted a photo of a beat-up old clock I received. Here are before and after photos (actually, it looked worse when I got it than the "before" photo). It is an English "Smith-Enfield" 30day time and strike movement housed in a Canadian "Walter Clock's" case. It's happily tick-tocking away right now.
http://i61.tinypic.com/dexvnb.jpg http://i60.tinypic.com/bhiwio.jpg
I've got way too much time on my hands:)
Going back to learning to tell time, I'm still waiting for some young person to ask me what time it is when it happens to be 1:38, and then I can say "It's twenty-two to two.":)
From my experience as a supervisor in a call centre which gave out rail timetables, I can tell you that a lot of confusion would arise. The use of the 24 hour clock wa mandatory, but we got loads of complaints from people who read 22.11. for 22.40. Try saying out loud.