@KristianR: Nah, don't bother with a factory reset, it's probably leftover from earlier FWs, and you've confirmed that the current approach taken in the script works anyway, thanks
.
----
The syslog is a ringbuffer that you can access via logread. I'd recommend enabling developper settings (search for devmodeon), and ticking a few extra things in the logging section of the dev menu (I *think* one of those concerns rtc).
I think @geek1011 mentioned issues with Nickel potentially periodically taking over the rtc when he was dealing with larger values for the default counters, something similar may be happening here.
(Obvious solution would be to try with nickel & friends killed, but that's obviously counter-productive to your goals here ^^).
If the process is still up, you could try attaching to it via strace, seeing what it's locked on might be interesting
.