Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It is needlessly provocative for the creator to claim it is a mechanical marvel and yet require blue LEDs for the clock to work at all. What? The face design is lit, many clocks are lit, but that's not intrinsic to the design. The clock could be perfectly functional with a different face design and doesn't affect the mechanics.
The visible parts of the illuminated elements are, I believe, completely static. Without the backlight shining through the internal mechanism you cannot tell the time. Moreover, the backlighting is so in-your-face that it requires the lay observer to do quite a bit of mental hopping around to align with the idea that this is a mechanical clock. It hardly goes out of its way to convince you it truly is mechanical.
This clock was unveiled in 2008, which I think was already at the tail end of the blue led's popularity. The clock is meant to last at least 200 years, but that design choice pins it down mercilessly to a fad that was dated in a few short years.