Mechanical Clock Hands

Mechanical Clock Hands are the arms that point to the numbers 1 to 12 so you know what time of day it is. Clock hands come in a variety of lengths.
Mechanical Clock HandsHand RemovalHand InstallationOrdering Mech HandsChime On Time FixAbout Hand Nuts

Please view these information tabs to help get Mechanical Clock Hands.

Removing Mechanical Clock Hands

Removing Mechanical Clock Hands is fast and easy to do. The following are hand removal instructions for German mechanical movements post WW2.

German Post WW2 wall, mantle and floor models

Removing mechanical clock hands for post WW2, mantle and floor clocks is quite simple. Turn the hand nut to the left while holding the minute hand with your fingers.

Use some small needle nose pliers to loosen the nut first. Once the nut is loose, turn it with your fingers until it comes off.

Then the minute hand will be able to wiggle straight off its square arbor and off of the clock. The hour hand is a friction fit, so just twist the hour hand back and forth and pull toward you until it comes off.

If having a second hand bit, that is only a friction also, so just grab it with your fingernails, twist and pull off.

American Antique time and strike

These type of movements come in two styles. If there is a minute hand nut, the first style is the same as above.

Be very careful not to lose this hand nut. They are very hard to find and replace. The second style of mechanical clock hands will have a pin holding the minute hand on instead of a nut.

This pin tapers, meaning it's fat on one side and skinny on the other. Just grab the fat side with needle nose pliers and yank the pin out. The minute hand will fall out with a washer.

Save the washer and the tapered pin for ease of reinstalling the hands. If these items happen to get lost, Clockworks offers washers and taper pins for purchase, as well as replacement mechanical clock hands.

The content of this website is copyright by Clockworks and written by James Stoudenmire in year 2022

German Mechanical-Clock Hand Installation

The installation of a German Mechanical-Clock Hand on a German mechanical movement is quite simple. It is simply the opposite of the removal process.

The minute hand must go through some adjustments if you are replacing the movement. Also if the hands are new. This is so it will point to the correct time when it chimes.

German Mechanical-Clock Hand Installation

Installing the hour hand

First comes the hour hand. The hour hand is simply a friction fit. All you have to do is put the hand on its round post. Then twist and push toward the front of the dial.

Make sure that it is not in contact with the dial at any point during the rotation.

This includes the base of the hour hand. It cannot rub against the hole that is in the clock face. So, the clock can stop at any point if the hour hand touches anything. You can turn the hand to point to whatever hour it is because it is only a friction fit.

Installing the minute hand

Second, comes the minute hand. Install the minute hand by lining up the the square hole in the hand with the square post of the hand shaft. The bottom of the minute hand cannot be rubbing the hour hand tube or the hour hand. Push the hour hand down further onto the tube if the minute hand is rubbing.

Therefore, it is imperative to check the positioning of the hands to ensure they are not touching anything. Once the minute hand is on its square post, it's time to put the hand nut on.

Tighten the nut with your fingers and then use a pair of needle nose pliers to make it secure. It does not have to be extremely tight. However you need to ensure it is tight enough so that the hands do not come loose as they go around the clock.

Mechanical Clock Hands

German mechanical clock hands are sold by the time track diameter. This measurement is important when ordering these mechanical clock hands. To clarify, the dial diameter is the measurement of the time track.

This means from just outside the 9 straight across to just outside the 3. For example, if the time track diameter is 6 inches, then select hands for a 6 inch time track in the drop down list. Hands for a 6 inch time track will have a minute hand of about 2 7/8 long from the mounting hole to the end.

The hour hand, which is proportionally smaller, will come with the minute hand. This measurement is vastly different than the way you measure quartz clock hands. So be sure to follow these directions for measuring and not the ones for the quartz hands.

Ordering Hands

Choose a style of mechanical hands after getting the time track diameter. There is a drop down menu under each style of hand. Look to see if the style comes in the size you need for the clock.

Not all styles of hands come in the same sizes. So you have to look at the different options available. Serpentine and spade are the most popular mechanical clock hand styles.

Remember, the minute hand will be a little less than half of the time track measurement. The hour hand will be proportional in size to the minute hand.

How they are sent

So, when ordering mechanical clock hands, remember that they come as a pair, hour and minute hand. They ship the next business day from Clockworks in Huntington MA USA, via the method that is chosen upon checkout.

The content of this website is copyright by Clockworks and written by James Stoudenmire in year 2022

Mechanical Clock Chime On Time

These are the directions to get a German mechanical clock to chime on time. This means having the clock hands point to the right spot when the clock chimes.

When replacing a clock movement, or getting new clock hands, either one, you will notice it will chime 5 minutes before it should, or 10 min after, something like this. This page explains how to correct this situation. It is unbelievably fast and easy to do.

Working with the minute hand

After the installation of a new mechanical movement , or if you are just installing a new set of hands, you may notice the clock will not chime at the time it should.

To correct this, take the minute hand off of the clock. This is the longer of the two hands.

With this minute hand off of the clock, turn it upside down and look that it has a square hole where it attaches to the clock. This square hole is in a bushing that will rotate WITHIN the minute hand itself.

The correction

So, all to be done is just use needle nose pliers to turn this bushing ever so slightly. Put the hand back on the clock and see if it’s pointing to the correct place where it should chime.

If it is, then it all set and it will point to the exact place it should be pointing to. If it is still not right, take the hand off and try again. Once you get the minute hand to point to the correct chime you then set it to the correct time.

The conclusion

It is really that easy, there is nothing to do with the clock itself, only the minute hand. In other words, to put it in a silly way, take the minute hand off of the clock and walk to the garage with it.

Take it far, far away from the clock. When in your garage take needle nose pliers and turn the bushing within the hand itself. Then walk back to the clock and put it on. See if it's now pointing to the right spot.

The content of this website is copyright by Clockworks and written by James Stoudenmire in year 2022

Mechanical clock hand nuts

One of the most common parts a Mechanical clock needs is the hand nut. As we said before, the older the clock the harder things are to find. So, the hand nuts Clockworks offer are for movements made after the 1930's.

Prior to 1930 clock hand nuts

There were not many standards on what the hand nut size should be on the early clocks. However, prior to around 1930 there is no telling what will work. In other words, it is literally trial and error. There was no standard hand nut size.

Subsequently, any hand nut we offer, may, or may not, work. This includes cuckoo hand nuts, American clock hand nuts, or German hand nuts. However, with even all of these assortments, there is a chance none of them will work on the clock.

Post 1930 clock hand nuts

Generally speaking, what we have to offer in the three types of clock hand nuts will cover most of the post 1930 Mechanical clocks.

The cuckoo hand nuts fit about 80% of the post war German made cuckoo clocks.

So, the American clock hand nuts fit many of the mechanical time strikes that were so popular. German hand nuts fit most post war German made mechanical clocks, with the exception being a few large grandfather clocks.

Clocks that do not take a hand nut

However, not all clocks require a hand nut. Some antique mechanical clocks require a clock hand washer and a tapered pin instead. These secure the minute hand as an alternative to the hand nut.

The washer may have a small square hole, or large, oblong or round hole. Clockworks offers an assortment of 100 clock hand washers that includes all the styles above. Use a taper pin to secure the hand with the washer on top of it.

Insert the taper pin into the hole in the end of the minute hand arbor to secure the washer and minute hand to the clock. A taper pin is a small brass or steel rod that is wide on one end and skinny on the other. Clockworks offers them in an assortment of 100 to ensure the right one is there.

The content of this website is copyright by Clockworks and written by James Stoudenmire in year 2022
Clock Hand Measurement

Hands For Mechanical Clocks

The Mechanical Clock hands in the list below are sold by dial diameter size. Alternately, this is not the same method as a clock that operates on a battery. Instead, determine the hands for mechanical clocks as an after effect of measuring the dial diameter. Furthermore, a time track is the outer ring that clocks sometimes have just outside the numerals. Measure the dial diameter from outside of the 9 to outside of the 3. For example, if 6 inches for this measurement, then order hands for a 6 inch time track. So, for a pair of hands made for a 6 inch time track would have a minute hand around 2 7/8 inches long.

German Mechanical

These mechanical clock hands are for German mechanical clocks that are post WW2 and includes most mechanical clocks after 1950. Post war clocks are made in either Korea, China, or Germany. Of course, the Korean and China clocks are pretty easy to identify as they usually say 31 day on it. If this is the situation and the clock says 31 day, these hands will not fit.

To be certain the clock is from Germany, look at the back plate of the clock movement itself. There will always be a stamp with an engraving that says Made in Germany. These mechanical clock hands will fit 90% of these clocks. Although there are some exceptions. Some tubular bell units and some of the older German units are a couple of examples. To be absolutely 100% sure these hands are correct, measure the width of the mounting post on the movement and match it up with the sizes they specify.

The content of this website is copyright by Clockworks and written by James Stoudenmire in year 2022

German Spade

Hermle german mechanical spade hands

For many dial diameters. These fit most German mechanical clock movements. The minute hand has a 2.2mm square mounting hole, the hour hand has a 4.5mm round hole.

CH1: $20.00
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German Maltese

Hands For Mechanical Clocks

For Hermle mechanical movements as well as Urgos. 5" Dial diameter only.

German Regulator Style

Hands For Mechanical Clocks

These fit most German mechanical clock movements. The minute hand has a 2.2mm square mounting hole, the hour hand has a 4.5mm round hole.

CH8: $16.00
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German Spade Variant

Clock Hands

Hands for German mechanical clocks such as Hermle, Urgos or Kieninger. These hands are for a dial that is 6 inch (15cm) to 6 1/2 inch (17cm) wide from outside the numeral 3 to outside the numeral 9.

RC30: $20.00

American Mechanical

American Mechanical hands for Seth Thomas, Sessions, Ansonia, Gilbert, Bristol, Ingram, Welch, New Haven and others. These are for American made mechanical movements produced prior to the end of WW2 because they did not produce many clocks after this time. The hands come in a couple minute hand mounting styles such as Oblong or Square. The hour hand just has a round hole every time.

The further back in time one goes with USA antiques movements there was less mass production. This means the older the clock the weirder things can get. So these hands are not going to fit every clock that is old and from America but they do cover the mass productions instead. Sometimes is it required for the older antiques to make something work from what is available. Such as soldering two hands together to make one good one that fits or filing a hole bigger with a needle file.

Pierced Spade

Pierced Spade American Clock Hands

For 5 inch dial diameter. Choose square or oblong hole in the minute hand. For American antique movements. (Seth Thomas, New Haven, Ansonia, Gilbert, Waterbury and so on)

CH7: $13.00$15.00
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Seth Thomas

ST Style American Clock Hands

For American antique movements. (Seth Thomas, New Haven, Ansonia, Gilbert, Waterbury and so on) This has a square hole in the minute hand.

CH10: $13.00
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Spade Hands

American Spade Mechanical Clock Hands

For American antique movements. (Seth Thomas, New Haven, Ansonia, Gilbert, Waterbury and so on). Specify if the hole in the minute hand is oblong or square. Measurement is the dial diameter

CH9: $13.00
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Maltese

American Maltese Mechanical Clock Hands

For American antique movements. (Seth Thomas, New Haven, Ansonia, Gilbert, Waterbury and so on) Specify if the hole in the minute hand is oblong or square. Measurement is the dial diameter

CH11: $13.00$20.00
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Mechanical Seconds

Second Hand

Clock Hands

Second hand sweep for a mechanical floor clock with the second hand option. Please choose the movement number that is on the back plate of the brass movement itself for the correct second hand to be shipped.

CH13A: $13.00
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