Can't set the time on my 1937 Clock

[John_Mc]

Well as amazing as it may seem, I replaced the fuse on my 1937 Zephyr and clock began to run!  And it continued to run for over an hour and kept pretty good time too.

My only issue with it now it that I can't set the time.  The cable that feeds the clock just spins and does not engage to move the hands.  Can I fix this?  Is it a common problem???  Don't want to install it like this.  Sure I could send it out for repair, but anything I can do on my bench??  Thanks!

[Beltfed]

I am sitting here looking at the cable and clock 'guts'. The knob at the cable end is spring loaded. One pushes the knob in and thus engages the stem on the clock to turn the hands. If this is not happening unscrew the other end of the cable off the clock is see if the inner cable is broken. As seen in the photo there is a rod with a small gear from the cable attachment point. When you push in on the knob, it pushes the small gear foward to engage a larger gear the hands are attached to.

I will add, the clock fuse is a real bear to get to on my 38. I put an inline fuse to both the clock and cigar lighter. This way I don't have to tear the console/dash apart to change the fuse. I put a spring with a copper wire in the original fuse holder. Doesn't look any different and helps with maintenance.

Edited July 20, 2015 by Beltfed (see edit history)

[John_Mc]

Excellent response, thank you very much.  I was a little gun-shy to open it up but I will do it now.  The cable is not broken for sure.  I do hope it's something simple.  Thanks again.

[Beltfed]

Once you're in there take a look at the points. They might need a good cleaning. If you watch one of these clocks work without the case you notice there can be a lot of arcing at the points. That's because when the points close there is an almost dead short for a short period of time till they open.

[John_Mc]

Beltfed, can you tell me how to get the guts out of this clock???  It looks totally sealed with maybe a rivet near the front???  I've studied it for an hour - cannot figure it out.

Also it looks like the spring actuator inside the clock seems to work fine.  Here is what I'm up against:

 

 

[Beltfed]

It's actually quite easy. Take a wooden or plastic dowel and small hammer. Tap on the back edge of the chrome ring that holds the glass. The dowel should be parallel to the clock. Just tap lightly around the ring and it will let go. Do this over a towel or something soft. Once the ring lets go the glass will fall off with a paper gasket.

On the back. There maybe an outer cover held on with several screws, remove it. With cover removed you are looking for (usually) two screw on the outside perimeter. They will be easy to spot. Remove them and nudge the clock out of the housing toward the front. Be careful of the hands and all spring and gears.

[John_Mc]

Thank you once again and I did open it up and what I have is the spring and all related hardware work fine.  The issue is that the gear that the spring loaded gear meshes with is not turning with the gear that turns the clock's hands.  Although they appear to be on the same shaft, the top gear moves and the bottom gear does not.  I afraid that I've reached the point where I have to turn if over to a pro.  Is it worth $100 to get this feature to work?  Probably not, thoughts??

[Beltfed]

The two gears, one larger than the other are on a common shaft. Are you saying when you engage the 'set time' small gear into the larger gear that it will move but the smaller gear will not? If so, my first guess is the large gear is loose and slipping on the shaft. Try turning the large gear by hand. It may spin.

If the large gear is loose I would first try a real watch repair shop in your home town. After all, it's a large gear and easy to get to. Should cost a lot less than a hundred bucks. Let me know what you learn.

[John_Mc]

That is exactly what's going on and I will take it to a local jewelry store I know and trust this afternoon. Thanks once again.