Expert: Michael Radi - 11/18/2009

Question
QUESTION: When the time changed recently I turned our clock back the one hour. Now - it keeps ticking away but the hands don't move. If I move the minute hand the hour hand and chimes work normally. Sometimes the minute hand will move a bit after I set it manually but it won't keep moving.

My movement looks the same as the attached picture but ours has "JE 1L", "no jewels", and "Made in Korea" stamped on front.

Is there a way to improve the friction between the minute hand gear and the minute hand shaft??

Thanks,

Glenn

ANSWER: I have worked on a lot of these movements and I have one here that I can compare to yours. If you look at the back of the movement you will see a spring pressed against the minute hand gear. This spring has a hub and four "fingers" pressing against the gear near the gears edge. This is the tension spring. This spring is held onto the minute hand shaft with a collet. Either the collet has cracked or become loose and no longer pushes against the spring enough to provide tension or the spring has become flattened and needs to be reshaped so it presses against that gear.
Let me know what you find.
Michael
www.norkro.com
clock parts and repair

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for your answer. A quick follow up question - yes I have observed that the "four fingers" pushing the "minute drive gear toward the front of the movement appears to be loose. I don't see the collet. Am I correct in assuming that the collet always turns with the minute hand shaft?

This will be my "first" at disassembling a wall clock. How do I secure those long springs?

Thanks

Answer
I just had another look at mine and I can't tell if the collet is pressed onto the shaft or if it's just a spacer that rides between the back plate and the spring. In either case it is pressed against the center of the spring and provides about 1/16" space between the center of the spring and the plate.
First check to see that the center of the spring is pushed away from the backplate. If it is then you need to bend the spring fingers so that they push harder against the gear. I pull them back by inserting a tool about 1/2 way across the finger then bend the tip of the spring toward the gear. When I remove the tool the spring will press down harder on the gear.