Reasons for Repair

Whether your clock’s “issues” are caused by age and use (normal wear-and-tear); long-term neglect; an accident, such as a fall from a shelf or wall; or improper repair methods (or poor craftsmanship) by others…. JFK can help.

First things first: There is no such thing as overwinding

It is a myth.

If, after your clock was fully wound, you then put an adjustable wrench, a pipe wrench, or vise-grip pliers onto the key…. and proceeded to turn the key further than it could turn when you were only using your fingers…. that’s the only way that you can possibly “overwind it”.

Using only your fingers on the clock key, a clock can only be wound “fully”. It cannot be wound any more than this.

If you wind your clock fully (with your fingers and the key, only), and it does not work or work properly…. then this means that there is some mechanical problem internally causing the clock not to run. Your winding the clock and thinking that you “wound it too much”, did not cause the problem.

Age-and-use-related, ‘Wear and Tear’

Clocks typically operate for decades without any visits to a clock shop. During these years, the clock’s winding springs weaken and become fatigued, due to age and use. Brass and steel surfaces within the clock mechanism wear away, due to constant motion and friction of the clock wheels (gears) rotating, and levers and cams interacting with other components. This causes a tremendous amount of resistance that must be overcome in order for the clock to “run”.

Rivets or washers that hold certain components together, particularly the winding wheels and winding springs, their ratchets, as well as the clock’s minute and hour hands…. weaken and loosen with age and use. Some of these components can become brittle with age and can crack.

When a clock “wears out” badly enough, as described above, the power that’s available from the winding springs (or from the weight of the weights, for weight-driven clocks), is no longer strong enough to power the clock. The clock won’t run, or won’t run well, or has to be “re-wound” with its key much more often than it used to. Often, the clock stops after just minutes or hours. It is completely normal, when any of these things happen. You didn’t do anything “wrong”. This is how clocks behave, when they’re worn out.

Neglect

A few years stored in a damp space, will put a coating of rust on every piece of steel inside of a clock. Rust can seize (or “freeze”) the clock. If a rusty clock is oiled, and then run….(if it runs; it often won’t)….the rust particles will wear out the bearings substantially faster (and worse), than they otherwise would wear out under normal conditions in a clean (no rust) environment. Rust isn’t the only contaminant: decades’ worth of congealed clock oil or airborne kitchen grease (from cooking); tar (from long-term tobacco use in the home); pet hair; dryer lint; cobwebs; dead insects or spiders; cocoons; termite frass (poop), and mice nests (and the associated “droppings”)…. are all things that long-neglected clocks have presented to JFK!

Extreme Cases

A fall off of a shelf or a wall can cause substantial external and internal damage. Or an old, damaged, or stressed winding spring (or a worn, damaged, or neglected winding ratchet) can fail with little or no warning, and release the winding spring’s stored energy instantly. This can severely damage the wheels (gears) that the winding spring is connected to, and cause substantial damage to any parts that are near it.

Faulty Prior Repairs

Clocks are probably subjected to more improper repairs (methods and materials), and subject to physical abuses by unqualified repairmen…. than most other items. I think it’s because there is no law against “dabbling” in clocks, or “tinkering” with them, and there is no barrier to entry in the business. Hence, a lot of people who shouldn’t be working on others’ clocks, work on them.

My father used to say, “You don’t see too many people doing dentistry, or brain surgery as hobbies…. but look how many clocks are assaulted by people who shouldn’t be anywhere near them….”

Repairs are sometimes performed by well-meaning persons at small businesses (such as jewelry stores or hardware stores) that offer clock repair as a secondary service (which might be loosely-related, but only tangential to, whatever the store’s main business focus is).

And of course, clock repairs are also often performed by someone you have a personal relationship with. A neighbor. A friend. A family member who “fixes clocks” and who “has some tools and a workshop, in his home”. A friend of a friend.

It is often (but not always) the case, that the repairs performed to your clock by the above-listed persons, can be worse than the initial problems that those “repairs” sought to correct.

I could fill an entire chapter in a book, with stories about the horrific treatment done unto clocks that I’ve witnessed from “repairmen”…. who had read some books or watched YouTube videos, printed some business cards, and then told the public that he or she “was in the clock repair business”. It’s the stuff of mechanical (and aesthetic) nightmares.

I have heard many times over the years:

“I took my clock to this other place, and it never really worked right after I got it back”.
“This other person fixed my clock, and it worked worse when I got it back, than when I brought it to him…”
“My clock worked, sort of, when I brought it to such-and-such repair shop, but it didn’t work at all, when I got it back…”
“I had this other place fix my clock, and it only lasted about 6 months and then it died. I didn’t want to go back to him.”
I went to this other shop, and when I told him that I thought there was a problem with the work he had done, the owner was mean to me and dismissive…”
“This other man fixed my clock, but after a year it started doing the same thing that it was doing before. I brought it back to him a few times, but he says there’s nothing wrong, that he had fixed it properly, and that the problem must be that I’m doing something wrong. He refused to look at it again”.

Do any of the above situations describe your clock, or, your experiences?

I have had every one of the above situations about “other clock shops”, or individual “repairmen”…. described to me by my customers, several times, during the last 35 years.

How do you know if your clock has been “repaired” by someone who shouldn’t have been working on clocks?

Most instances of poor workmanship is physically invisible to the clock’s owner. But when these “repairs” fail, is when it becomes evident.

My father, aside from commenting that not too many people do brain surgery or dentistry as hobbies, had a saying: “You can fool the customer, but you cannot fool the clock”. He meant that any “repairman” can fool a customer with shortcuts and shoddy workmanship…. and can make a clock “run” for weeks or months (or even a few years) with a seemingly “successful” repair.

But the clock itself, cannot be fooled. After a certain amount of time, the poor-quality work, makeshift repairs, and improper materials or parts that were used…. will no longer be able to “fool the clock” into running. The “repairman” fooled the customer, briefly…. and took his or her money…. but the person’s clock could not be fooled.

If you have ever brought your clock to someone, or to jewelry store, or to “a place”…. and you feel as if you were not treated respectfully or courteously, or if your clock “never really worked right after you got it back”…. or if it worked for 6 months or a year and then stopped working; or if “the place you took it to” refused to make good on its work and perhaps told you that YOU were the problem…. you are not alone. It is all, unfortunately, very common.

It is at this point, that the clock requires proper and competent repair, and perhaps needs custom machine shop work.

If you think your clock could benefit from seeing me, I welcome your inquiry.

Thank you for finding my site.

For information about my two-year guarantee on my work, please see: JFK’s Two-Year Guarantee – JFK Clock Repair

For more information about my diagnostics skills, please see: JFK’s Diagnostics Skills – JFK Clock Repair

For information about my custom-machining skills, please see: Custom Machining – JFK Clock Repair