Longer Hands On Movement

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 11:51 pm     Post subject: Longer Hands On Movement

I am replacing a mechanical movement in a school clock I built in 1975. I was going to replace it with the Klockit Rear-Mount Coil Gong Movement #13039. All the movement's dimensions are capatible, but than I noticed that the hands that come with it are only 2 1/2-inchs long, but my clock's hands are 5 1/2-inchs. I called Klockit, and the girl that I talked to said longer hands cannot be installed on this movement because of their weight. Is this true? There's barely any difference in weight. How critical is this? I prefer to keep a mechanical movement in the clock rather than going to a quartz. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks for any assistance.

Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 8:53 am     Post subject: Longer hands

What is the diameter of your clock dial? The average drop octagon style school house dial is 11" in diameter with a minute ring that is around 9" or so. Minute hand length is usually calculated to be half the diameter of the minute ring.
5 1/2" hands would indicate that your clock dial is larger than 11".
Depending on the material that the hands are made from it might be possible for the 13039 movement to drive them. Even so there could be some added stress to the movement. Over time this could increase wear. The other problem is whether or not the hands that you have will fit the hour and minute hand shafts. I do not know if longer hands are available that will fit the 13039 movement.