Expert: Martin Meyer - 7/9/2008

Question
I have a quartz movement -- Youngs Town model 12888.

The minute hand stops at about the 20 minutes till the hour every time.   The minute hand is 13" long end to end and the pendulum is 7" long end to end.  

It seems there is slippage within the movement (not on the shaft).  Any suggestions?  Also, do you know where I can find a replacement movement?

Thanks,

Steve

Answer
Hi Steve,

First, I will assume that you have tried replacing the battery, and are using alkaline batteries, not rechargeable batteries or old-style acid "heavy duty" batteries, neither of which work properly in clocks.

There are two likely possibilities for your problem, but neither is repairable, and both will require replacing the movement.

First, the gear inside the movement which the minute hand attaches to may be damaged, and the gears are jamming. Second, and perhaps more likely, the :20 before the hour position is when the minute hand requires the most force to lift. On clocks with long minute hands such as yours, if the movement is not working optimally, or if it is not a "high torque" movement designed to work with large hands, the movement may not be producing enough power to lift the minute hand.

Replacement movements are available from http://www.youngtownco.com/ .