Expert: Martin Meyer - 12/7/2008

Question
My neighbour has a wall clock must be 100 years old. It has been in perfect working order until now.  She winds it up timewise and the chimes every Sunday! What happened was she was interrupted when she was winding it so did not do the 2 things at once, and she wrongly went back and put the hands of the clock manually forward 5 hrs later to the correct time.  Obviously now the clock is striking wrong times.  She left the clock at my suggestion to stop completely and the chimes and re-set it again but alas it is not chiming the correct time. It chimed 9 when it should have been 2!  I don't want her to have somebody out to the house as I feel the solution might be a simple one.  It looks like a Hunter clock.  It is not valuable but has been in the family for years.  Any advice pelase.

Answer
Hi Dorothy,

If the clock strikes the wrong number of times, you correct it as follows: turn it to strike on the hour. Count the number of times it strikes and move the HOUR HAND ONLY to point to the correct number. The minute hand will Not move. The hour hand (unlike the minute hand) is a friction fit and can be moved forward or backward without affecting the minute hand or the strike mechanism. Occasionally the hour hand is tight on its shaft, so move it gently so as not to break it. When you are done, make sure that the hour hand is not hitting against either the minute hand or the dial, both at the center of the hand and along its length. Once you have synchronized the strike in this way, you can set the time the normal way by turning the minute hand forward, stopping to let it strike at each strike point.  http://www.clockmasteronline.com