Quartz

It's about a so called 'friend' who is basically the definition of fake/plastic & who you also feel is worlds apart from who you are. They're only character is that they have no character. They brag about all their wealth & jewels and such when you know the truth is that they are in fact completely dead inside.

Adding to the other comment, it looks like this song uses timekeeping as a metaphor for 2 types of people: Quartz and Clockwork. Quartz timekeepers (clocks, watches, etc) are a more modern technology that basically keep time with an electronic movement fueled by a battery. The traditional clockwork is fueled by being wound up and is a complex engineered tool with wheels to keep time without any support of electricity. On paper, quartz is simply superior. The cheapest quartz devices keep better time than the most expensive clockwork pieces.

Still, many people have a preference for traditional clocks, whether it be on the wrist or the living room. They feel they are more genuine (artstyle, historical inventions, independent off batteries, etc) despite its shortcomings, and I think this is a big theme in the song. The wordplay this song uses with that probably goes deeper, but from what I quickly see, these are some examples:

You're only happy when you're oiled and jewelled, You're only happy when you wind me up and I know: Instead of the battery that keeps quartz timekeeping running, with traditional clockworks it is important to avoid the gears to corrode. Oiling and protecting them through the placement of jewels are some of the ways to preserve them. The winding refers to the traditional clockwork only lives on if wounded.

You're so reliable it isn't true, And it's so easy for me to break down: This seems to be the clockwork talking to the quartz. Tiny gears moving 24 hour a day need a lot more maintence than a quartz movement.

But I listen, to the ticking, I guess we're worlds apart: Both appear much the same but the ticking is a common way to spot the difference: Quartz most of the time tick once a second while traditional movements tick several times per second.

And for the final part: I know I never get the balance right And turn up half an hour late night after night And being totally dependable is so very commendable Although you're never wrong One of these days.. you're just gonna stop.

The part about the balance and turning up late is refering to the clockwork's difficulty being as accurate as a quartz (it has a balance wheel that needs to be corrected during maintence to improve accuracy over time) and it may also refer to clockworks often having less smooth date transitions due to the more complex mechanism. And the second two lines I think beautifully confirm my theory on this song. The quartz is never wrong (more accurate), predictable and reliable. But when a quartz movement dies, it needs to be replaced most of the time. Clockworks despite their complexity and need for maintence can be restored by replacing tiny bits by an expert.

So I see this song a bit as two friends being critical of each other. You have to perfect reliable but incredibly stale reserved person (quartz) and the more flamboyant, interesting but fragile/unreliable person (clockwork). There is probably more to this that I missed, this is my first time commenting here but this is what I picked up. :)