Expert: Michael Radi - 11/29/2008

Question
I have a wall clock which chimes the wrong hour. I don't have much information on the clock. It's at least 7 years old. On the front it reads 'Korea' and '31 day'. I could not find a brand name.
The chime seems to be one hour off. At 4 PM for example, it chimes three times. It does this on every hour except, oddly, at one o'clock, which always chimes correctly. I've tried the other solutions I've seen here; stopping the clock and turning the hour hand back to match the number of chimes and then re-setting to the correct time. But this does not seem to work. It always chimes one less time than the correct hour, except one o'clock. The chime on the half hour is always correct.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.

John

Answer
Korean clocks have the hour hand set into the hour tube so that when you move the hour hand you are moving the entire snail that determines the hour that the clock will strike.
When everything is working right you simply move the hour hand to whatever hour you want the clock to be.
Your problem could be that the hour hand is not seated in the slot correctly. Remove the minute hand by unscrewing the nut holding it on. If you can take off the hour hand you will see that it has two notches opposite each other on its tube. These line up with the slots on the tube that it goes onto. Just line them up and press the hand back on.
If the slots are lined up and you still get the wrong hour you have a more complicated problem. It could be that the tube that the hour hand goes on has become turned inside the snail.
The other option is that the rack is not seating correctly when it drops down on the snail. You would need to remove the face and correct either of these things if the first option I mentioned does not fix your problem.
Michael
norkro.com