Clock Repair

Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2007 5:04 pm     Post subject: Clock Repair

I have a Verichron 31 day mantal clock that runs about 1 minute and stops (yes, I did wind it). I am not a clock expert, but I want to take the face off to see if anything jumps out as the problem. Unfortunately, I am unable to remove it. I removed the screws holding the face on, and I removed the nut holding the minute hand in place. The hour hand does not have a nut holding it on, but it will not come off. It's attached to a shaft with a gear on the end so I don't want to try and pull it off. Any suggestions for taking the face off or getting into the clock works? Also, is there a manual available?

Thank you.

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:43 pm     Post subject: Re: Clock repaor

The hour hand is a friction fit on the hand shaft. As you have found out it is sometimes a very tight fit. With care it can be removed by pulling upwards with the fingertips of both hands on either side of the hand hub and coaxing it off. Don't try pulling on the end of the hand. You will only succeed in bending the hand, or worse, snapping the hand off completely. In a real stubborn case sometimes a drop of penetrating oil on the hub helps loosen the hand for removal. Clock supply houses sell a handy little gadget called a hand puller for this purpose, but it hardly seems worth the expense for one operation.
Once the hand is off you should be able to remove the dial and lubricate the pivot points on the movement under the dial.
Most 31 day movements are imports from the far east, usually Korean or Chinese. I don't know of a repair manual specifically for Verichron.