Expert: Martin Meyer - 12/7/2008

Question
I over wound the middle weight for the time when I moved.  I had to use a wire extension to reach the hook to hang the weight. The cable is strung properly to the round wheel with the hook, if that makes sense. The problem is, the clock only runs for a few seconds; maybe 20 or 30. When I start the pendulum you can hear the tick tock and watch the second hand move but then it stops ticking and stops.  If I move the hour hand slowly as it starts to stop it will get past the point and start again.  It seems to be sticking at a point,  moving the hour hand gets it going.  I can see that the cable that is wound around the mechanism is over lapped and does not line up like it should  as the others  are. I have stood and kept it running for maybe twenty minutes at a time if I keep moving the hour hand but it does stick at a point then the second hand jumps ahead when it starts ticking again. This has been a problem for months and as I stated I have stood there for minutes and kept it running; after all this time it will only wind one click after running for probably a total of one hour or more over the months. Is there a way to unwind the cable as it looks sort of tangled?  Thanks for any advise in advance, Jack

Answer
Hi Jack,

A tangled cable can definitely stop the clock.

Unwinding the cable is possible, but there is a very definite risk, and it is most difficult to do on the middle cable drum. I would strongly recommend having a professional clock repairer do this job. The cable drum is kept wound by a ratchet (the "click") and a flat spring (the "clickspring") which keeps the ratchet wound. It is possible, AFTER removing the center weight, to reach into the movement, find the click, pull it back out its notch on the ratchet wheel with a wire or dental pick, then pull down on the cable to unwind it. However, aside from doing damage to the internal parts of movement by poking around inside it, it is very possible to pull the click back so far so that it slips over the clickspring. If this happens, it will be very difficult to get these parts back into their correct alignment, and will probably bend the clickspring beyond repair as well.

The cable drum turns extremely slowly, and one click for an hour of turning is typical. Pushing on the hour hand is not advisable. It may work better for you to press down slightly on the center weight, thus exerting an extra pressure, to keep the clock running while the cable unwinds. But, because of this extreme gear ratio, you may be standing there doing this for a very long time before the cable unwinds enough to untangle.  http://www.clockmasteronline.com