Electric Clock Maintenance and Repair, Part 3

This is the third in a series of posts on the subject of keeping our electric wall and desk clocks running.

Most clocks (in my limited experience) are damaged in two ways:

1. the battery leaks, corroding and ruining the movement, wiring or case
2. the clock gets knocked off the wall or desk, falls to the floor and the glass or case breaks

"The instruction manual is lost" is a third reason that clocks fall out of use. Luckily the Internet generally allows us to find the setting instructions, because memory just isn't quite as long as the life of an alkaline battery...

I'll use a couple of my clocks as examples for changing the battery in your clocks.

CLOCK MAINTENANCE - EXAMPLE ONE

Because I was moving things in my office, I took this clock off the wall and discovered a badly leaking battery which was still powering it adequately. If I had waited until the clock stopped it would have been damaged even more.

Looking at the back, we discover it has two separate motors inside, thus it requires two batteries. Normally I would just drop in the batteries, but since the top battery was oozing, more dramatic measures were necessary.

I was amazed to find the clock was filled with spiders, dead ant bodies, and a couple other small creatures. I used a hand vacuum to extract all the biological debris.

The insides are pretty basic. Small pads of plywood are stapled and glue to the back of the dial and the movements fit onto them. The top motor drives a moon phase module (separately adjustable from the time) and is mounted on a metal plate.

I needed to remove all the corrosion and wanted to ensure the debris did not get in and stain the dial. So I used small swabs to clean off all the visible stuff, and then to apply anti-corrosion fluid. Even the mounting screws were corroded so I took them out and put them into a small container of baking soda and water. Eventually it ate away the verdigris and I got the screws clean. I lubricated them to resist future corrosion, and put them back in.

Note that I couldn't remove the motor because the hands are pressed onto the shaft, so it wouldn't come out. I couldn't remove the glass without pulling staples out around the perimeter of the case. Sometimes I do have to remove the hands, but I don't recommend it unless necessary because they are easy to damage.

Here's a close-up shot of the movement once the cover and creatures were removed. At this point the battery receptacle is clean, and the screws are ready to go back in.

The clock is now back together and functioning well. There was no damage to the metal parts of the movement plate.

CLOCK MAINTENANCE - EXAMPLE TWO
My Seiko desktop calendar moon phase clock was running well, but I opened it just for interest when considering this series of posts. I was aghast because the "ultra performance" battery was leaking into the complication module.

I pulled the battery out, cleaned what I could from the receptacle, and concluded that I needed to remove the motor. That meant dismantling the clock and removing the hands. Fortunately the hands on the subdials did not need to come off.

Once the movement was out of the way I could see the extent of the damage, which was minor. I cleaned off the corrosion and applied anti-corrosive solvent.

Since I am not equipped to anodize aluminum, I coated the bare metal with several heavy layers of ink from my permanent markers.

The result isn't perfect but it's better than leaving bare metal. I was happy to see that the corrosion did not get into any parts of the module, and the clock is working fine after its repair. I cleaned the glass inside and out, put the hands back on, and reassembled the clock case.

CLOCK MAINTENANCE - EXAMPLE THREE

I've repaired this chiming Seiko day date clock twice. Both times it was due to leaking batteries. The last time (this past weekend) I didn't open the clock because it had stopped, only because it had a broken day-date change.

I have to keep a close eye on this clock, as it will chime and keep time long after the leaking starts. The first time was very dramatic.

Notice at the bottom right corner how dark the fiberboard back has become. It was totally saturated with leakage and had swollen to twice its original thickness. I had to remove the back, clean it thoroughly with baking powder / water solution, then put some dilute household glue into the "mushy" composition board, and clamp it tightly for a day.

The battery wires leading over to the left (the chiming module) had completely rotted off. The green/white wire is a new piece I soldered on. I also had to open the module, clean the circuit board, and replace some rotten solder. Luckily the motor is separate from the battery case, and "uphill" quite a ways from the corrosion.

When I removed the standard quartz movement motor, I discovered a little gear was pressed on underneath the hands. This gear engages with the day-date module and advances them each day. I discovered this clear plastic ratchet arm had broken off the mechanism, and that's why it wasn't advancing properly. There's no way I'll get any new parts, and so I jury-rigged a solution that's working fine at the ~~movement~~ moment.

Here are two views of the movement day/date assembly. On the righthand image I have inverted the movement so you can see the rest of the moving parts. I suspect you could put a battery into the movement motor and power it directly, but then the chiming module wouldn't know what time it is, and when to chime which hour.

It looks a lot like a Seiko diver wristwatch day date wheel!

Getting all this apart is a lot of work, and involved removing the glass and the hands from the front side.

Here it is with another day-date clock whose motor burnt out. I thought I documented its repair last year, but I haven't found the photos for it and I'm not taking it apart unless I really have to!

Notice that although they look completely different, the day ring is on the inside and the date ring on the outside in both cases. If you think through the alternatives, it could be that they operate exactly the same way! Rather than moving a date ring, the motor turns a three-spoked wheel with a black pad (behind the day), and single-spoked wheel with a red pad (behind the date). You put your finger in the slot and rotate the day - date wheels to set them, in both cases.

CLOCK MAINTENANCE - EXAMPLE FOUR

This skeleton clock is quartz powered and usually sits on the shelf next to my Atmos clock, which needs very little attention. As I was finishing up this article I took at glance at it. It was running fine and on time.

The battery said titanium. Hmmm. That's good, not alkaline. Then I noticed in very fine print "alkaline" and "good til 2011". Argh! I pulled the clock off the shelf, extracted the battery and made a close examination. White fuzz!

Taking a couple cotton swaps dampened with solvent, I cleaned the contacts. The white fuzz came right off - because it was a scrap of tissue (apparently from someone wiping the contacts before I got it).

Whew! The battery tested at 10%. Maybe just in time?

I put an experimental rechargeable battery into the clock and set the time. Elapsed time, 5 minutes.

I could go on and on, but I won't bore you with more examples. Go change those batteries in your clocks!

SUMMARY

Alkaline clock batteries are ideal power units for clocks with one exception - they invariably leak - before they stop powering the clock. Thus you don't know its happening. Other batteries go dead sooner, but don't always damage your clock when they die. While swapping a battery is inexpensive and fast, repairing damage from corrosion is a nuisance and takes a bit of time and care. Fortunately, a couple screwdrivers, some cotton swabs and caution is usually all you need to repair your quartz clocks.

Thanks for coming along through so much text and so many photos. Please let me know if there are more things I can address in a concluding post for this series.

Cheers,

Cazalea

PS - three days after posting this, I used my battery checker and it seemed a little flaky. Opening the battery compartment, I found corrosion!! Even in the battery tester, with 50% or greater life remaining on all 4 AA cells. Moral? Go change those batteries in all your devices. This message has been edited by cazalea on 2015-06-16 15:25:43

Horological Meandering

Electric Clock Maintenance and Repair, Part 3

Electric Clock Maintenance and Repair, Part 1

Electric Clock Maintenance and Repair, Part 2

Electric Clock Maintenance and Repair, Part 3