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Removing the Mechanical Clock Hands

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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.


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    Stuart Thayer
    Stuart Thayer
    5 months ago

    I have a 1939 herschede grandfather clock. Serial number 316084. The minute hand keeps time correctly. The hour hand loses approximately 4 minutes a day. There are 4 lines in between the numbers, which means there are 5 spaces. Each space is 12 minutes.after 3 days of running, the hour hand is a complete space behind. How can the minute hand be accurate, but not the hour hand. Thanks for listening. Stuart

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    James Stoudenmire
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    James Stoudenmire
    4 months ago
    Reply to  Stuart Thayer

    Sound like the hour hand is not tight on its shaft. Hour hand is only a friction fit, get the minute hand off and twist and push at the same time on the hour hand to tighten it back up

    James Stoudenmire
    40yr Clockmaker
    Author of Clockworks.com

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    Rebekah
    Rebekah
    7 months ago

    Hi –

    I’m new to clock repair and want to get into horology as a hobby. I have a Big Ben Westclox style 1a that I tried to use a hand/gear remover to get the hands off but I felt like I was going to break the hands and they didn’t budge. I bought another style 1a Big Ben Westclox and I have the same problem. I was wondering if you can tell me how to get the hands off?

    Thank you for your time.

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    James Stoudenmire
    Author
    James Stoudenmire
    6 months ago
    Reply to  Rebekah

    These are not worth chasing and sold as a disposable unit.

    James Stoudenmire
    40yr Clockmaker
    Author of Clockworks.com

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    patrick johnson
    patrick johnson
    6 years ago

    My middle weight (time) is stuck at the top. I have pulled on it …and I have taken off the pendulum and pulled on the weight. Nothing happens. There is no ticking or movement when the pendulum is off. I similar incident happened years ago and the repair person said the cable got tied up or overlapped ? is there a way to fix that?
    the

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    James Stoudenmire
    Author
    James Stoudenmire
    6 years ago
    Reply to  patrick johnson

    The only way is to get the movement out and see what is going on with it.
    At that point you may want to consider just swapping out the movement for the new one. That is if the clock movement is 25 years old or more it is time to swap it for sure. For more assistance I would need the movement numbers off of the back plate of the movement itself please and thank you.
    James

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