Expert: William J Perkins - 10/31/2008

Question
Hi, I had a repair man in to service my grandfather clock...he tightened up the
hour hand and now it doesn't move.  How do I get my hour hand to move again?

Kristen

Answer
I believe your repair person has an obligation to correct this deficiency.  However, if you wish to take care of the matter yourself, the hour hand is pressed to tightly against the dial.  To correct simply grasp the hour hand around its rim attached to the hour hand shaft.  Pull forward until the hand is free of any direct contact withe the dial.  The next best scenario to correct would be the probable lock up of the minute and hour hand.  In this instance you would first untangle the hands then ben the minute hand slightly outward so that it can rotate the dial without coming into contact with the hour hand.  Another possibility is that the hour hand is bent outward and catches on the minute hand, in this instance you would bend the hour hand back towards the dial.  Regardless of what the fault, and I had done the repair with such poor results, I would be very sad for you not to tell me about it so that I could make it right.  Regards WJP